June 9, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, friends, thanks so much for joining us today on
Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor
Rick Warren.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
We're so glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
And today, Rick continues in his series called Transformed Together,
We'll dive into God's word and discover powerful principles that
can truly change our lives from the inside out spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially,
and vocationally. You'll experience how God's truth brings real transformation
(00:36):
to every part.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Of your life.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm so excited to hear what Rick has to say
today in part two of a message called From Stressed
to Blessed?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Now, what am I supposed to do on my Sabbath?
Three things? Write these down. Here's three things you're supposed
to join your sabbath. Number one, rest my body. You
need to rest your body physically.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Rest.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
There's a biblical basis for a good Sunday afternoon nap,
right there. Number two, just not when I'm speaking. Number two,
refocus my spirit. I rest my body on the Sabbath,
and I refocus my spirit. And what is that? That's worship?
(01:24):
It's what you're doing right now. You are refocusing your
spirit right now by coming to worship, and in corporate worship,
we recharge and refresh our spirit. And number three, I
am to recharge my emotions. Use the sabbath to recharge your emotions.
That's what recreation does. It recharges your emotions. Now, different
things recharge different people. And we'll talk about that in
(01:46):
just a minute, about how you need beauty in your life,
but you need to do something that restores you and
re energize. It could be a hobby, it could be
a sport. These are good things that God has given
us as gifts in order to to recharge your motions.
You know, it doesn't really matter which day is your sabbath.
(02:07):
In fact, the Book of Colossians in the Bible says
it doesn't matter which day you choose. You just need
to choose a day. My sabbath is not Sunday. Sunday
is a workday for me, by the way, so is Saturday.
My sabbath is Monday. And on Monday, I rest and
I refocus and I recharge, and that's and I don't
do any work on Monday.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's my sabbath. And by the way, I.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Don't call it your day off, because if it's your
day off, you'll cheat on it and you just say, oh,
I got all these things they need to do, I'll
do this. But if it's your sabbath, then you use
it for what God intended. He said, But I feel
guilty when I relax. Well, Jesus didn't. When you study
Jesus ministry, he often took time off to relax. In fact,
he'd go out into an entire period of intensive ministry
(02:50):
and then he'd say, guys, we need to come apart
for a while. We're going off to the mountains. We're
going off the desert. We got to come apart. And
I always say, if you don't come apart, you're going
to come apart. And he said, you know, let's go
off to the desert. He goes out there where there's
these springs and those date palms, palms and springs and
palm springs. He said, there's a biblical basis for going
(03:12):
to palm springs right there. Okay, he says, go off
to the desert and we're gonna go relax for a while.
I'm sure they didn't have a jacuzzi to sit in,
but it would have been nice. But Jesus didn't feel
guilty about it. Did you know that during the French
Revolution they canceled The French government canceled the sabbath and.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Said every day is going to be a workday.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
And after a couple of years they had to reinstate
it because the health of the nation had crumbled. You
need this in your life, You need a sabbath. I
heard about a guy who said to his pastor. He said, Pastor,
I tried to get a hold of you all day
on Monday. And the pastor said, well, I'm sorry, it's
my day off. And the man said, well, the devil
(03:53):
never takes a day off, and he said yeah, and
if I didn't, I'd be just like the devil. And
some of you that's why you're so mean. You're not
getting enough sleep, you're not getting enough rest, and you're
a little devil because you're not taking the sabbath. And
the devil's not your model.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Number three, I look to God to meet all my needs.
The Lord is my shepherd. I obey God's instructions about rest.
He makes me lay down, lie down. And then number three,
I recharge my soul with beauty. That's the third thing
you need to do recharge my soul with beauty. Beauty
(04:31):
is an incredibly important thing in stress management. Ugliness stresses
you out. Beauty inspires. Beauty encourages, Beauty motivates, Beauty stirs
up positive emotions. Have you ever thought about why God
made the world so beautiful? I mean, you look at
(04:52):
sunrises and sunsets, beautiful flowers that are never even seen,
and all of these sites are around the world that
many people will human eye we'll see.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
But God created a world of beauty.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
He could have made Earth just like the Moon, just
a moonscape, or like Tattooine. For those of you who
don't know Star Wars, that's the desert planet that Luke
was from Skywalker and he wanted to get off that
(05:26):
planet really quick because it's pretty ugly.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Anybody should have go on about the gospel.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
According to Star Wars, Yeah, he could have made it
just a desolate, dusty, gray planet.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
No, God created a planet with vibrant colors. Have you
ever heard anybody say? I heard it the other day
when I was actually last summer, I was on vacation
up in Yosemite. We were under some redwood trees and
a man said to me, I feel.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So close to God in nature. Well, of course you do.
He created it.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Man was made to live in a garden, not in
a skyscraper. When God created man, he put him in
the garden of Eden. He didn't put him a skyscraper.
You weren't made to live in everything concrete. God made
us to live in a garden, in a beautiful place.
Any of you remember Woodstock. You're really old if you
(06:25):
just raise your hand. Okay, really really old. Okay. There's
this rock concert many many years ago. Joni Mitchell wrote
a song about it called Woodstock, and it says, well,
I came upon a child of God. He was walking
along the road, and I said where you're going. He said,
I'm going up to the Yasgar's farm for this rock and
roll band. And there's a line in the course that
(06:47):
says this, we are stardust, we are golden, and we're
caught in the devil's bargain and we've got.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
To get back to the garden.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And it's a capital g she's talking.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
About the garden of Eden.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
We've come a long way from the Garden of Eden
on this planet.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
People say I feel close to God in nature. Of
course you do.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It's God's beauty, and beauty inspires and beauty motivates. Notice
the next verse Psalm twenty three, Verse two and three.
He makes me lie down? But where does he make
me lie down? He makes me lie down in lush
green meadows golf course and leaves me beside calm, quiet
(07:34):
waters by the sandtrap. He restores my soul. Okay, he
restores my soul. Now it's no wonder. Psalm twenty three
is the most beloved psalm because we can all visualize
this one. When I say think about lush green meadows
and a calm, quiet lake, you relaxus thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
If I say think about downtown La, you get stressed out.
I say think about meadows and calm waters and babbling brooks.
Nature refreshes because beauty inspires. Now you need beautiful scenes.
(08:23):
You need to see beautiful scenes, and you need to
hear beautiful sounds in order to keep the stress.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Down in your life.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You need to add beauty into your life. Let me
give you some suggestions. Write these down. Number one, get
outside every day. If you're not getting outside every day,
your stress level is going up. Even if it's just
your backyard, even its just walk around the block, even
if it's take your lunch outside, walk outside of the
(08:50):
office and sit outside and look up at a tree
while you eat your sandwich. You need to get in
touch with God's creation. You need to surround yourself with beauty.
Get outside. Let me give you a second suggestion, start
the day with God, not the media. Before you read
(09:13):
any text message, before you check your email, before you
turn on the radio to some talk radio people screaming
at each other, or before you turn on the television
for some morning show. You need to get in touch
with God first. The first seven minutes of your day
set your mood every day.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So do you want to.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Start it with an alarm clock and then the worst
news of the day coming at you. No, you don't
really need to know all the bad news.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
First thing.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
When you get up, you don't need to know that
you need to turn on some praise music, some worship music.
You need to get in touch with God. You need
to let the first five ten minutes of your day
be with the Lord, and that'll dramatically reduce your stress
and improve your mood. Another suggestion number three, intentionally put
(10:05):
beauty around you. Whether it's pieces of art or music
that inspires you, or something a craft that something that
you know. I used to collect seashells and I collected
them from all over the world and I did it.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And I had them, had my my my.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Library filled with them because looking at those things simply
inspired me to go, Wow, that the intricacy of that nautilus,
how God inspired That looking at beauty lowers your stress level.
Listening to beauty lowers your stress level. So I highly
recommend that you either take up an instrument or or
(10:47):
some kind of art or craft to create beauty. You
are most like your creator when you're being creative, and
so you need art in your life. You need beauty.
And by the way, art and music are two of
the greatest arguments against evolution. Why because they're totally unnecessary
(11:08):
for human survival. And if the whole survival of the
fittest really works, then why in the world do we
have music.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
And art in the world.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Because you're more than a body and God made you
for worship. Did you know more songs have been written
about Jesus than any other subject in human history? Did
you know more books have been written about Jesus than
in any other subject in human history. Do you know
that more art has been created about the Bible and
honor and glorify God and Jesus than any other subject
(11:37):
in history. Why God gave us music, and God gave
us art for one reason, to express emotion. That's the
only purpose of it. You don't need it for physical survival,
but you do need it to really live, to be
who God made you to be. So fill your life
with art, and fill your life with music. You know,
when I get stressed out, I go home, I pick
(11:59):
up a start playing guitar, are set on piano, bang
on the piano, ukulele, doesn't matter, kazoo, you know whatever,
just come and paper. It's like last week you said,
make a joyful noise. That don't have to be pretty,
Just make a joyful noise. Philippians four to eight says this.
(12:21):
You'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on
things that are true and noble and reputable and authentic
and compelling and gracious. It sounds like television, doesn't it. No,
it doesn't. That is not television.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You'll do best by filling your mind with things that
are true and noble and authentic, compelling, gracious, the best,
not the worst, the.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Beautiful not the ugly.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Now because of sin, there's a lot of ugliness in
the world. There are a lot of unpleasant things in
the world. Whatever you give your attention to is going
to either raise or lower your stress. Some of you
during fifty days transformation, you need to do a fast
on the news. I hate to tell you this, but
you could miss the news for the next fifty days
(13:09):
and going to make one difference in the world. If
you read the newspaper one day later, you'd realize how
much news really isn't news. The media is tuned to
make you think stuff's important that isn't that important.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Has no bearing on your life.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And if you used all the time that you spend
listening to news, or watching news or reading news, and
instead spent that listening to God, reading his word, listening
to worship songs, your stress would.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Be dramatically lower. It's your choice now.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
If you want to stay stressed out, keep watching local
news because if it bleeds, it leads on the local news.
In other words, if there's a crime that happened anywhere
within distance, it's going to be reported on the news.
Is that really what you want to hear is that
what you really need. Is that going to make you
a better woman, a better man? No, So I recharge
(14:06):
my soul with beauty. He makes me lay down in
green meadows and calm waters beside calm waters. Number four,
The fourth thing we have is go to God for guidance.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Go to God for guidance.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Now this is important because a common source of stress
in your life is indecision. You can't make up your mind.
Some of you right now are wavering.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You're at the fork in the road.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Or maybe you've got multiple options and you just get't decide,
and the stress is killing you. You can't decide whether
to get in or get out or do neither. You
got too many choices. I recommend that you make God
the number one source for guidance, not the opinions of
(14:55):
your friends, not some pundit on television. But you go
to God for guides because he always tells you the truth.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So what I do? I say God, I need wisdom.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
And in James chapter one it says this, if any
man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
to all men liberally and does it. Couldn't condemn them
or criticize them. He gives it generously and graciously. God
is waiting to give you wisdom. You just have to ask.
So you say, God, I need wisdom, and I pray
and I ask. Then I read the Bible, I read
this book, and then I wait and I think, and
(15:32):
I be quiet, and I listen and I sense and
at the right time, maybe not immediately, at the right time,
God will put that idea in my mind. And you go, Wow,
that's an inspiration. That's what I need to do. I
want you to write this down, write this affirmation down.
It's an affirmation. God will guide me at the right time.
(15:55):
God will guide me at the right time, not at
the wrong time. And his timing is perfect. He's never early,
he's never late. If you have to make a decision
about next year, he's not going to give you the
answer today because he wants you to trust him. The
Bible says, there enough trouble and each day, take one
day at a time. So God's going to give you
the right decision and the right guidance if you'll trust him.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
But he'll do it at the right time. So I'm
twenty three.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Verse three says this he guides me in the right
paths for His name's sake.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's an affirmation.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
God, I believe you're going to guide me at the
right time, in the right way.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I believe you're going to do that. And if you
have that belief, he's going to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Number four or number five, I trust God in the
dark valleys. I trust God in the dark valleys. Now,
we're all going to go through dark valleys in our lives.
You'll go through many of them in your lifetime. One
of the fifth common sources of stress is loss. And
(17:03):
you can lose your job, and you could lose your income,
and you can lose your money, you could lose your health,
you could lose your reputation, you can lose a loved one.
We all go through many losses in life. And when
you go through loss, there are always two common reactions.
One is fear and the other is grief. Now, grief
(17:24):
is good, fear is bad. When we did a series
a seven messages on grief last year, and remember I said,
grief is the way we get through the transitions of life.
Grief is a good thing. The Bible says God grieves,
It's a godly emotion In fact, if you don't grieve,
you get stuck. Some of you had a major loss
(17:45):
in your life in the past, and you just shoved
it down. You stuffed it instead of grieving. And when
you stuff it, you get stuck at that stage emotionally,
and you've never gone any further because you can go
through the grief. You got stuck, and you maybe need
to go back and grieve some things in your life
(18:07):
you've never grieved over. So you get unstuck because you
got unstuffed. Stop pushing the pain down. Just grieve it.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Let it out.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
It's not gonna kill you. Grief will not kill you.
You let it out. It's good for you. It's how
you go through the transitions of life. And then you
get unstuck and you can move on and you can
grow up emotionally. Grief's a good thing. On the other hand,
fear is a bad thing. Not once in the Bible
does it say grieve not, sorrow not, weep, not cry not.
(18:40):
What it does say is fear not, and it says
that three hundred and sixty five times, which means there's
one for every day of the year. Because grief doesn't
paralyze fear does, fear does so I'm twenty three verse four.
Here's what David says, even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no eve.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I don't fear anything.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Why, for you are with me, your rod and your
staff comfort me. Now, remember he's using this shepherd metaphor
shepherd with his sheep. Shepherd's always carried a rod and
a staff. These are the two tools that you use
to protect the sheep, to ward off wolves and to
protect the sheep.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
He says.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I'm not going to stress out about this because God
is my protector. God is helping me, and I'm going
to trust God in the dark valleys, even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow, some of you
are going through the valley of the shadow right now.
Maybe the valley of the shadow of death. It may
be the valley of the shadow of death. It may
(19:46):
be the valley of the shadow of conflict. It may
be the value of shadow of depression. It may be
the valley of the shadow of discouragement. But you're going
through the valley of the shadow.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Now. Shadows are scary.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I remember how I used to get a of shadows
when you're laying in bed as a little kid. Some
of the things though I've learned about shadows of this,
Shadows can't hurt you. They can't hurt you. A truck
can run over, that hurts you. Whatever a truck shadow
runs over, it doesn't hurt you. Shadow can't hurt you.
(20:21):
Shadows are always bigger than the source, and that true.
It's your fear of that greater than the actual event.
Shadows are always bigger than the source because it makes
them look bigger than they really are.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
But here's the good news.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Wherever there's a shadow, there's a light. You can't have
a shadow without a light. And so the key of
when you're going through the value of the shadow and
to not be afraid is to turn your back on
the shadow and look at the light. Because as long
as I keep my eyes on the light, the shadow
(21:04):
can't scare me. And Jesus is the light of the world.
That's how you go through the valley of the shadow death.
That's how you lower the stress. I trust God in
the dark valleys. Maybe you're going through that right now.
You need to pray like David. So I'm one for
two verse three. When I'm ready to give up. He
(21:25):
knows what I should do. When I'm ready to give up,
he knows what I should do.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I want you to.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Write this down in your outline. I don't have to
know the answers when I know God. I don't have
to know all the answers about what I'm going through
if I know God, because he knows what I should do.
And I'm going to turn my back on the shadow,
(21:54):
and I'm going to look at the light and I'm
going to walk through the valley of the shadow. I'm
going to trust God in the dark valleys that'll reduce
the stress of loss.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
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 3 (22:21):
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 a daily basis. So I've created a
special transformed Bible study Kit. Now, in this kit, there
(22:45):
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,
(23:08):
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
(23:28):
to tell you how much I love you and to
say thanks for your financial support of Daily Hope.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Now, in this seventh session video and workbook study, Rick'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
(23:59):
die 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
(24:22):
of this great resource. That's pastorick 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
(24:42):
next time as we continue to look into God's word
for our daily hope. And this program is sponsored by
Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
Hey, friends, thanks so much for joining us today on
Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible Teaching ministry of Pastor
Rick Warren.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
We're so glad to have you with us.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
And today, Rick continues in his series called Transformed Together,
We'll dive into God's word and discover powerful principles that
can truly change our lives from the inside out spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially,
and vocationally. You'll experience how God's truth brings real transformation
(00:36):
to every part.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Of your life.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I'm so excited to hear what Rick has to say
today in part two of a message called From Stressed
to Blessed?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Now, what am I supposed to do on my Sabbath?
Three things? Write these down. Here's three things you're supposed
to join your sabbath. Number one, rest my body. You
need to rest your body physically.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Rest.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
There's a biblical basis for a good Sunday afternoon nap,
right there. Number two, just not when I'm speaking. Number two,
refocus my spirit. I rest my body on the Sabbath,
and I refocus my spirit. And what is that? That's worship?
(01:24):
It's what you're doing right now. You are refocusing your
spirit right now by coming to worship, and in corporate worship,
we recharge and refresh our spirit. And number three, I
am to recharge my emotions. Use the sabbath to recharge your emotions.
That's what recreation does. It recharges your emotions. Now, different
things recharge different people. And we'll talk about that in
(01:46):
just a minute, about how you need beauty in your life,
but you need to do something that restores you and
re energize. It could be a hobby, it could be
a sport. These are good things that God has given
us as gifts in order to to recharge your motions.
You know, it doesn't really matter which day is your sabbath.
(02:07):
In fact, the Book of Colossians in the Bible says
it doesn't matter which day you choose. You just need
to choose a day. My sabbath is not Sunday. Sunday
is a workday for me, by the way, so is Saturday.
My sabbath is Monday. And on Monday, I rest and
I refocus and I recharge, and that's and I don't
do any work on Monday.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
That's my sabbath. And by the way, I.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Don't call it your day off, because if it's your
day off, you'll cheat on it and you just say, oh,
I got all these things they need to do, I'll
do this. But if it's your sabbath, then you use
it for what God intended. He said, But I feel
guilty when I relax. Well, Jesus didn't. When you study
Jesus ministry, he often took time off to relax. In fact,
he'd go out into an entire period of intensive ministry
(02:50):
and then he'd say, guys, we need to come apart
for a while. We're going off to the mountains. We're
going off the desert. We got to come apart. And
I always say, if you don't come apart, you're going
to come apart. And he said, you know, let's go
off to the desert. He goes out there where there's
these springs and those date palms, palms and springs and
palm springs. He said, there's a biblical basis for going
(03:12):
to palm springs right there. Okay, he says, go off
to the desert and we're gonna go relax for a while.
I'm sure they didn't have a jacuzzi to sit in,
but it would have been nice. But Jesus didn't feel
guilty about it. Did you know that during the French
Revolution they canceled The French government canceled the sabbath and.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Said every day is going to be a workday.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
And after a couple of years they had to reinstate
it because the health of the nation had crumbled. You
need this in your life, You need a sabbath. I
heard about a guy who said to his pastor. He said, Pastor,
I tried to get a hold of you all day
on Monday. And the pastor said, well, I'm sorry, it's
my day off. And the man said, well, the devil
(03:53):
never takes a day off, and he said yeah, and
if I didn't, I'd be just like the devil. And
some of you that's why you're so mean. You're not
getting enough sleep, you're not getting enough rest, and you're
a little devil because you're not taking the sabbath. And
the devil's not your model.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Number three, I look to God to meet all my needs.
The Lord is my shepherd. I obey God's instructions about rest.
He makes me lay down, lie down. And then number three,
I recharge my soul with beauty. That's the third thing
you need to do recharge my soul with beauty. Beauty
(04:31):
is an incredibly important thing in stress management. Ugliness stresses
you out. Beauty inspires. Beauty encourages, Beauty motivates, Beauty stirs
up positive emotions. Have you ever thought about why God
made the world so beautiful? I mean, you look at
(04:52):
sunrises and sunsets, beautiful flowers that are never even seen,
and all of these sites are around the world that
many people will human eye we'll see.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
But God created a world of beauty.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
He could have made Earth just like the Moon, just
a moonscape, or like Tattooine. For those of you who
don't know Star Wars, that's the desert planet that Luke
was from Skywalker and he wanted to get off that
(05:26):
planet really quick because it's pretty ugly.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Anybody should have go on about the gospel.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
According to Star Wars, Yeah, he could have made it
just a desolate, dusty, gray planet.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
No, God created a planet with vibrant colors. Have you
ever heard anybody say? I heard it the other day
when I was actually last summer, I was on vacation
up in Yosemite. We were under some redwood trees and
a man said to me, I feel.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
So close to God in nature. Well, of course you do.
He created it.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Man was made to live in a garden, not in
a skyscraper. When God created man, he put him in
the garden of Eden. He didn't put him a skyscraper.
You weren't made to live in everything concrete. God made
us to live in a garden, in a beautiful place.
Any of you remember Woodstock. You're really old if you
(06:25):
just raise your hand. Okay, really really old. Okay. There's
this rock concert many many years ago. Joni Mitchell wrote
a song about it called Woodstock, and it says, well,
I came upon a child of God. He was walking
along the road, and I said where you're going. He said,
I'm going up to the Yasgar's farm for this rock and
roll band. And there's a line in the course that
(06:47):
says this, we are stardust, we are golden, and we're
caught in the devil's bargain and we've got.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
To get back to the garden.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
And it's a capital g she's talking.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
About the garden of Eden.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
We've come a long way from the Garden of Eden
on this planet.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
People say I feel close to God in nature. Of
course you do.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
It's God's beauty, and beauty inspires and beauty motivates. Notice
the next verse Psalm twenty three, Verse two and three.
He makes me lie down? But where does he make
me lie down? He makes me lie down in lush
green meadows golf course and leaves me beside calm, quiet
(07:34):
waters by the sandtrap. He restores my soul. Okay, he
restores my soul. Now it's no wonder. Psalm twenty three
is the most beloved psalm because we can all visualize
this one. When I say think about lush green meadows
and a calm, quiet lake, you relaxus thinking about it.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
If I say think about downtown La, you get stressed out.
I say think about meadows and calm waters and babbling brooks.
Nature refreshes because beauty inspires. Now you need beautiful scenes.
(08:23):
You need to see beautiful scenes, and you need to
hear beautiful sounds in order to keep the stress.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Down in your life.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You need to add beauty into your life. Let me
give you some suggestions. Write these down. Number one, get
outside every day. If you're not getting outside every day,
your stress level is going up. Even if it's just
your backyard, even its just walk around the block, even
if it's take your lunch outside, walk outside of the
(08:50):
office and sit outside and look up at a tree
while you eat your sandwich. You need to get in
touch with God's creation. You need to surround yourself with beauty.
Get outside. Let me give you a second suggestion, start
the day with God, not the media. Before you read
(09:13):
any text message, before you check your email, before you
turn on the radio to some talk radio people screaming
at each other, or before you turn on the television
for some morning show. You need to get in touch
with God first. The first seven minutes of your day
set your mood every day.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So do you want to.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
Start it with an alarm clock and then the worst
news of the day coming at you. No, you don't
really need to know all the bad news.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
First thing.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
When you get up, you don't need to know that
you need to turn on some praise music, some worship music.
You need to get in touch with God. You need
to let the first five ten minutes of your day
be with the Lord, and that'll dramatically reduce your stress
and improve your mood. Another suggestion number three, intentionally put
(10:05):
beauty around you. Whether it's pieces of art or music
that inspires you, or something a craft that something that
you know. I used to collect seashells and I collected
them from all over the world and I did it.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
And I had them, had my my my.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Library filled with them because looking at those things simply
inspired me to go, Wow, that the intricacy of that nautilus,
how God inspired That looking at beauty lowers your stress level.
Listening to beauty lowers your stress level. So I highly
recommend that you either take up an instrument or or
(10:47):
some kind of art or craft to create beauty. You
are most like your creator when you're being creative, and
so you need art in your life. You need beauty.
And by the way, art and music are two of
the greatest arguments against evolution. Why because they're totally unnecessary
(11:08):
for human survival. And if the whole survival of the
fittest really works, then why in the world do we
have music.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
And art in the world.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
Because you're more than a body and God made you
for worship. Did you know more songs have been written
about Jesus than any other subject in human history? Did
you know more books have been written about Jesus than
in any other subject in human history. Do you know
that more art has been created about the Bible and
honor and glorify God and Jesus than any other subject
(11:37):
in history. Why God gave us music, and God gave
us art for one reason, to express emotion. That's the
only purpose of it. You don't need it for physical survival,
but you do need it to really live, to be
who God made you to be. So fill your life
with art, and fill your life with music. You know,
when I get stressed out, I go home, I pick
(11:59):
up a start playing guitar, are set on piano, bang
on the piano, ukulele, doesn't matter, kazoo, you know whatever,
just come and paper. It's like last week you said,
make a joyful noise. That don't have to be pretty,
Just make a joyful noise. Philippians four to eight says this.
(12:21):
You'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on
things that are true and noble and reputable and authentic
and compelling and gracious. It sounds like television, doesn't it. No,
it doesn't. That is not television.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You'll do best by filling your mind with things that
are true and noble and authentic, compelling, gracious, the best,
not the worst, the.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Beautiful not the ugly.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Now because of sin, there's a lot of ugliness in
the world. There are a lot of unpleasant things in
the world. Whatever you give your attention to is going
to either raise or lower your stress. Some of you
during fifty days transformation, you need to do a fast
on the news. I hate to tell you this, but
you could miss the news for the next fifty days
(13:09):
and going to make one difference in the world. If
you read the newspaper one day later, you'd realize how
much news really isn't news. The media is tuned to
make you think stuff's important that isn't that important.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Has no bearing on your life.
Speaker 3 (13:26):
And if you used all the time that you spend
listening to news, or watching news or reading news, and
instead spent that listening to God, reading his word, listening
to worship songs, your stress would.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Be dramatically lower. It's your choice now.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
If you want to stay stressed out, keep watching local
news because if it bleeds, it leads on the local news.
In other words, if there's a crime that happened anywhere
within distance, it's going to be reported on the news.
Is that really what you want to hear is that
what you really need. Is that going to make you
a better woman, a better man? No, So I recharge
(14:06):
my soul with beauty. He makes me lay down in
green meadows and calm waters beside calm waters. Number four,
The fourth thing we have is go to God for guidance.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Go to God for guidance.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Now this is important because a common source of stress
in your life is indecision. You can't make up your mind.
Some of you right now are wavering.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
You're at the fork in the road.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Or maybe you've got multiple options and you just get't decide,
and the stress is killing you. You can't decide whether
to get in or get out or do neither. You
got too many choices. I recommend that you make God
the number one source for guidance, not the opinions of
(14:55):
your friends, not some pundit on television. But you go
to God for guides because he always tells you the truth.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So what I do? I say God, I need wisdom.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
And in James chapter one it says this, if any
man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
to all men liberally and does it. Couldn't condemn them
or criticize them. He gives it generously and graciously. God
is waiting to give you wisdom. You just have to ask.
So you say, God, I need wisdom, and I pray
and I ask. Then I read the Bible, I read
this book, and then I wait and I think, and
(15:32):
I be quiet, and I listen and I sense and
at the right time, maybe not immediately, at the right time,
God will put that idea in my mind. And you go, Wow,
that's an inspiration. That's what I need to do. I
want you to write this down, write this affirmation down.
It's an affirmation. God will guide me at the right time.
(15:55):
God will guide me at the right time, not at
the wrong time. And his timing is perfect. He's never early,
he's never late. If you have to make a decision
about next year, he's not going to give you the
answer today because he wants you to trust him. The
Bible says, there enough trouble and each day, take one
day at a time. So God's going to give you
the right decision and the right guidance if you'll trust him.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
But he'll do it at the right time. So I'm
twenty three.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Verse three says this he guides me in the right
paths for His name's sake.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's an affirmation.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
God, I believe you're going to guide me at the
right time, in the right way.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I believe you're going to do that. And if you
have that belief, he's going to do it.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Number four or number five, I trust God in the
dark valleys. I trust God in the dark valleys. Now,
we're all going to go through dark valleys in our lives.
You'll go through many of them in your lifetime. One
of the fifth common sources of stress is loss. And
(17:03):
you can lose your job, and you could lose your income,
and you can lose your money, you could lose your health,
you could lose your reputation, you can lose a loved one.
We all go through many losses in life. And when
you go through loss, there are always two common reactions.
One is fear and the other is grief. Now, grief
(17:24):
is good, fear is bad. When we did a series
a seven messages on grief last year, and remember I said,
grief is the way we get through the transitions of life.
Grief is a good thing. The Bible says God grieves,
It's a godly emotion In fact, if you don't grieve,
you get stuck. Some of you had a major loss
(17:45):
in your life in the past, and you just shoved
it down. You stuffed it instead of grieving. And when
you stuff it, you get stuck at that stage emotionally,
and you've never gone any further because you can go
through the grief. You got stuck, and you maybe need
to go back and grieve some things in your life
(18:07):
you've never grieved over. So you get unstuck because you
got unstuffed. Stop pushing the pain down. Just grieve it.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Let it out.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
It's not gonna kill you. Grief will not kill you.
You let it out. It's good for you. It's how
you go through the transitions of life. And then you
get unstuck and you can move on and you can
grow up emotionally. Grief's a good thing. On the other hand,
fear is a bad thing. Not once in the Bible
does it say grieve not, sorrow not, weep, not cry not.
(18:40):
What it does say is fear not, and it says
that three hundred and sixty five times, which means there's
one for every day of the year. Because grief doesn't
paralyze fear does, fear does so I'm twenty three verse four.
Here's what David says, even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no eve.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I don't fear anything.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Why, for you are with me, your rod and your
staff comfort me. Now, remember he's using this shepherd metaphor
shepherd with his sheep. Shepherd's always carried a rod and
a staff. These are the two tools that you use
to protect the sheep, to ward off wolves and to
protect the sheep.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
He says.
Speaker 3 (19:23):
I'm not going to stress out about this because God
is my protector. God is helping me, and I'm going
to trust God in the dark valleys, even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow, some of you
are going through the valley of the shadow right now.
Maybe the valley of the shadow of death. It may
be the valley of the shadow of death. It may
(19:46):
be the valley of the shadow of conflict. It may
be the value of shadow of depression. It may be
the valley of the shadow of discouragement. But you're going
through the valley of the shadow.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Now. Shadows are scary.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
I remember how I used to get a of shadows
when you're laying in bed as a little kid. Some
of the things though I've learned about shadows of this,
Shadows can't hurt you. They can't hurt you. A truck
can run over, that hurts you. Whatever a truck shadow
runs over, it doesn't hurt you. Shadow can't hurt you.
(20:21):
Shadows are always bigger than the source, and that true.
It's your fear of that greater than the actual event.
Shadows are always bigger than the source because it makes
them look bigger than they really are.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
But here's the good news.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Wherever there's a shadow, there's a light. You can't have
a shadow without a light. And so the key of
when you're going through the value of the shadow and
to not be afraid is to turn your back on
the shadow and look at the light. Because as long
as I keep my eyes on the light, the shadow
(21:04):
can't scare me. And Jesus is the light of the world.
That's how you go through the valley of the shadow death.
That's how you lower the stress. I trust God in
the dark valleys. Maybe you're going through that right now.
You need to pray like David. So I'm one for
two verse three. When I'm ready to give up. He
(21:25):
knows what I should do. When I'm ready to give up,
he knows what I should do.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I want you to.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Write this down in your outline. I don't have to
know the answers when I know God. I don't have
to know all the answers about what I'm going through
if I know God, because he knows what I should do.
And I'm going to turn my back on the shadow,
(21:54):
and I'm going to look at the light and I'm
going to walk through the valley of the shadow. I'm
going to trust God in the dark valleys that'll reduce
the stress of loss.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
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 3 (22:21):
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 a daily basis. So I've created a
special transformed Bible study Kit. Now, in this kit, there
(22:45):
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,
(23:08):
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
(23:28):
to tell you how much I love you and to
say thanks for your financial support of Daily Hope.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
Now, in this seventh session video and workbook study, Rick'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
(23:59):
die 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
(24:22):
of this great resource. That's pastorick 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
(24:42):
next time as we continue to look into God's word
for our daily hope. And this program is sponsored by
Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
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