Rick Warren - Radical Generosity—Part Two

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Rick Warren, and Merry Christmas. Christmas is going
to be here very soon. And Jesus said in Luke
fourteen twenty three, go out into the highways in the
countryside and urge everybody you find to come in so
that my house will be full. Who are you thinking
of to bring to your church? Whoever it is. I
want to challenge you to be a light at Christmas
and invite them to services at your church.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so
glad you've joined us today. We're continuing a powerful series
called radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots. And in this series, Rick
will show you how to grow deep in your faith,
stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created

(00:49):
you to be. Let's join Rick right now for the
final part of a message called Radical Generosity.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Now, the greatest miracle is not this offering, not at all.
It's not even the amount of the offering. That's not
the miracle. The miracle is what takes place in you
and in me and everybody else who had a little
part in it, whether it was big, little, medium or anything.
Anybody had a part in this. The miracle is what
takes place in us because every time I do radical

(01:17):
generosity with my life and again I'm not just talking
about money. When I'm radically generous with my attention and
I listen to my kids or I listen to somebody
and hurt, when I'm radically generous with my sympathy and
I say, yeah, I understand that that makes sense. When
I'm radically generous with my time and I don't have
time to give it to you, but I help you out.

(01:38):
And when I'm radically generous with my service, and when
I'm radically generous with my compliments, and when I'm radically
generous with praise, and I'm radically generous with forgiveness for
people who've hurt me, and I just forgiven as they
forget it. Don't worry about it, blow it off, you,
let it go. What that does is an amazing transformation

(01:58):
in you. There are five things that happen. Let me
just give them to you. I'm not even going to
talk much about them on the back of your outline.
The results of radical generosity living a life of generosity.
Number one, it increases my love for Jesus. It increases
my love for Jesus, because giving is an act of love,

(02:20):
the Bible says in verses eight and nine. A second
crienty eight, Paul's talking to the church in Corinth. He says,
just as you excel and everything else, He says, you
guys are really good at a lot of stuff, just
as you excel in everything else. In faith, he said,
you excel in speech and knowledge, even in complete earnings,
even in your love for Us, he said, see also

(02:40):
that you excel in the grace of giving. He says, No,
I'm not commanding you. Why because commanding is not what
God wants. I just want to test the sincerity of
your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others,
he said, I want to test the sincerity of your love.
Every time you give, every time I give. You're generous

(03:01):
with anything in your life. It does two things. It
proves your love for Jesus, and two it strengthens It
increases your love for Jesus. I used to see this bumpersticker.
You don't see it much anymore, but I used to
laugh when I see it. Said, you know, if you
love Jesus, tithe any fool can honk. Well, it's true.

(03:22):
He's just saying, you know, put your money where your
mouth is. The Bible says Jesus said, where your treasure is,
your heart will be also, so wherever you want your
heart to be. I'm telling you this, Invest a little
in it. You know, you probably couldn't care less about
Microsoft unless you own stock in Microsoft. Then you cared

(03:44):
extremely about it. If you want to care about general motors,
put some money into general motors. Guess what you'll start
caring about it. You know, whatever you invest in. You
invest in a political party, all of a sudden, you
start caring about the political party. You invest in a
project or ministry, all of a sudden, you start caring
about that ministry. Where your money is, your heart is.

(04:05):
And when I give myself to Christ, it makes me
love him more Number two, and not only increases my
love for Jesus, it makes me like Jesus. It makes
me more like Jesus. I become more like him. Every
time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in
my life. And every time I give, my heart grows bigger.

(04:27):
And every time I give, I become more like Jesus.
Why because who's the master example of generosity, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in the next verse, verse nine, you
are familiar with the generosity of our master Jesus Christ.
Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us,

(04:47):
circle for us. He gave it all away for us.
In one stroke, he became poor and we became rich.
Obviously he's talking about spiritual wealth there, spiritual riches, enrichment.
What's he talking to here? Jesus Christ had it all.
He's God, He's the son of God. He's in heaven
with all the splendor of heaven, and he gives it

(05:08):
all up, and he comes to earth at Christmas time
to be born in a barn that's about as low
as you can go. And why did he do it? Well,
he certainly didn't do it for himself. He did it
for you. He's the ultimate act of generosity. God so
loved the world that he gave God. If you picked

(05:31):
up all the attributes of God, the number one attribute
of God is his generosity. Because everything you have is
a gift. Nothing, the air, the water, the brain, you have,
your heart beat, everything you have is a total gift
of God's generosity. You would have nothing without God's generosity. Now,
in the Bible, there are more promises related to living

(05:53):
a generous lifestyle than any other thing. Did you know
that God? Over and over again in scripture, God says,
if you will be generous with your time, with your money,
with your life, with your influence, with your love, with
your forgeinness if you'll be generous with your life, he said,
I will bless you in this way. In fact, I
could make you a long list of the promises of generosity.

(06:16):
Why why does God want us to be generous more
than anything else? Because it's most like God, like father,
like son, like father, like daughter. God wants his children
to be like him. And the number one characteristic of
God is he is outrageously, lavishly, radically generous. And God says,

(06:37):
I didn't put you on earth to live for yourself.
I put you on earth to learn to be other
persons centered, to be generous, to be unselfish. I didn't
put you on earth just to live for you. I
made you to become like me and to learn generosity.
So it increases my love for Jesus. It makes me

(06:58):
more like Jesus. Number one three, it deepens my faith.
Did you know that every time you're generous, your faith grows.
It not just it doesn't just demonstrate your faith. It
grows your faith. Why Because you're saying, God, this is
money or time or energy or whatever that I don't
have to give away, but I'm going to give it

(07:20):
to you, or I'm going to give it to somebody else,
and I'm going to be generous, trusting that you will
provide for me. It is an evidence, a statement of faith.
Every time you give, you're making a statement of faith. God.
This is something I could use for myself, but I'm
giving it away because I know you'll take care of
my needs. I know you'll replace it. I know you'll
supply for what I need, and I am trusting you.

(07:41):
It demonstrates and it develops your faith. Look at this verse.
Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and
whoever sows generously will reap generously. He's talking about sowing seed,
for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able
to make all grace a bound to you, so that
in all things, at all times, having all that you need,

(08:05):
you will abound in every good work. Now here's what
he's saying, he said, you know, if a farmer goes
out and he's gonna spread some seed around, gonna sow
some seed, he say, he starts throwing the seed and
sows a little bit of seed, he gets a little crop.
If he sows a lot of seed, he gets a
lot of crop. If he sows an enormous amount of seed,
acres and acres of seed, he gets enormous acres and
acres of crop. Now, when you sow a seed, you

(08:27):
don't just get one back. If you plant a cord seed,
you get one seed of cornback. Now you get a
whole kernel you get I mean, you get a whole
stock of corn on the cop that has lots of kernels.
God always multiplies what you give him. You put in
a seed, you get back a plant full of tomatoes.
Out of one tomato seed. You put in an apple seed,
you get a tree full of apples. God says, I

(08:49):
multiply it. And he says, he who sows generously will
reap generously. God says, you get to choose how much
I bless your life. It's all dependent upon your generosity.
You sew a little bit, you get a little sow more,
you get more you so a lot, you get a lot.
It's all up to you. The more you give away
your life, the God says, the more I will bless
your life and I will deepen your faith. Now he

(09:11):
wants you to get this so badly. He repeats it
like five times. Look at that verse on your outline.
I want you to take a pen, and I want
you to circle the alls. In the second half of
the verse, it says God is able to make all grace.
Circle that all grace, okay, And then it says so
that in all things circle that all things at all

(09:31):
times circle that having all that you need, circle that
you will abound in every circle that good work. He's saying,
get the message. If you will learn to be generous.
He said, I will take care of your needs all
the time, all the way, every place, all a while,
everywhere you could possibly think of all, all, all all.

(09:53):
It's like I want you to understand it. I mean all,
he says, I'll take care of all things at all times,
all you need, and abound in every good work. Look
at the next verse, verse ten and eleven. God supplies
seed to the farmer than bread to eat in the
same way, and God will give you seed. Of course,
the money you give came from Him in the first place,

(10:14):
and multiply it. And then I want you to underline this.
In your lives, he will increase the things you do
that have His approval. Underline that in your lives he
God will increase. He'll multiply the things you do that
have his approval, and you will be enriched so that
you can be even more generous. That's amazing. God says,

(10:38):
you give to me, I give to you. Then you
have more to give, and then you give away more,
and then I give you more. And the more you
give away to help other people, the more I give
to you and honor. It's like a cycle. Creases my
love for Jesus, makes me more like Jesus, deepens my love.
Number four, it causes others to thank God when you
are generous with other people. It causes as people to

(11:00):
thank God. If you're radically generous and notice the next
verses Verses eleven and twelve Tewod Corinthians nine. It says
this your generosity will result here's one of the results
in thanksgiving to God for this service you perform. Not
only meets the needs of God's people, but it also
provides an outpouring of gratitude to God. Now this is

(11:25):
very important. Get the difference here. In normal generosity, which
is not spiritually led, it's not out of your commitment
to Christ. It's just being generous, you know whatever. It's
not out of your commitment to the Lord. In normal generosity,
only the donor gets thanked. In radical generosity, the donor

(11:45):
gets thanked and God gets thanked because of the donor. Lord,
I thank you for that person who helped meet my need.
That's radical generosity. Now, friends, because of your generosity of
people are being helped. Marriages are being saved and put
back together, Kids are being brought off drugs and adults too.

(12:11):
People who are in the pits financially are learning financial
counseling and coming out of that pit. And when you give,
you're not just giving to some pie in the sky thing.
You're helping people all over southern California and even around
the world because we've sent teams to nearly a one
hundred and sixty countries. As I said, the miracle of

(12:33):
this offering is not the amount. The miracle is what
God does in your heart, and the miracle is the
testimony that it is to the world, and that leads
us to the fifth thing is the fifth result is
it honors God as a witness to the world. Every
time you're generous with your time, with your energy, with
your life, with your words, with your support, with your money,

(12:58):
with your listening, it honors God as a witness to
the world. It is an evidence of love. Paul says
this in verses eleven to thirteen. You will glorify God.
Glory to God. You will glorify God through this genuine
act of service because of your commitment to spread the

(13:21):
good news of Jesus Christ, and because of your generosity.
He said, when you are committed to spreading the good
news and helping fund it, you know because of your
generosity that glorifies God. It is a witness to the world. Now, friends,
Saddleback Church is serious about the great commission. We are

(13:43):
committed to taking the good news to the whole world.
That's why we're doing the Peace Plan. We take this
seriously to spread the good news of Christ. And as
I said, once again, you voted with your wallet. Your
confidence in the direction of this church might challenge you
is twofold. It's the same challenge agains last week one
that you'll say, Lord, I'm going deeper. I'm not gonna

(14:05):
be a shallow believer. I'm not gonna be a casual believer.
I'm not gonna be a wimpy believer. I'm gonna be
a spiritually mature man of God or a spiritually mature
woman of God. I'm not gonna whimp out anymore. I'm
gonna be there. I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna sink down
deep spiritual roots and be what God wants me to be.

(14:25):
That's my first challenge you. My second challenge to you
is that this year you start praying God, help me
to reach one more for Jesus, not twenty, just one.
I want somebody to be in heaven because of you.
I want when you get to heaven, somebody comes up
and says, thank you so much. I'm eternally grateful. I'm
in heaven because of you. Is anybody gonna be in

(14:47):
heaven because of you? You're gonna be in heaven because
of somebody else who told you. I want to tell
you that if you will pray this, help me reach
one more for Jesus, God will answer that prayer. He'll
make it so easy, so simple. Naturally, it won't be scary.
It'll be easy for you to bring somebody to church.
And at the end of this year, God will have
answered that prayer and you will have brought somebody to
Christ and they'll be in heaven. Because of you, we

(15:12):
are going to shine like stars in the universe, holding
forth the word of God, taking it to every nation.
And you have proven that. As we start a new
year in a way unlike any other church, let me
pray for you as your pastor have any Father, I
want to thank you for this church. I love these people.

(15:35):
I love our church family. I thank you for the
privilege of being a part of this particular family of God.
We love you, and we look forward to the future
with great anticipation. And Father, I pray you will bless
every single man in this room, and bless every single
woman in this room. Bless every single adult, Bless every couple,

(16:01):
Bless every family. I ask you to bless every senior
adult and every young child. Lord, I ask you to
protect our people this next year. I ask you to
protect them from evil, protect them from discouragement, from depression,

(16:23):
from disappointment. But most of all, I ask that you
help them develop deep spiritual roots, that they'll grow closer
and closer to you, finding the maturity and the stability
so that nothing blows them away. Then no circumstance, no rogue, win,
no economy, nothing takes away their joy, nothing takes away

(16:47):
their faith. Then nothing can take away their love for
you and for others. I ask that you bless the
jobs and the careers of every person here. I pray
that they will be successful, not for their own benefit,
but so that they can bless the world, so that

(17:08):
you enable them to be able to help other people.
I ask you to protect their health. I ask you
to protect their minds, their emotions. Bless them spiritually with
new insight. Bless them emotionally with joy and peace and love.

(17:29):
Bless the relationships for those who want to get married.
May this be the year. For those who want to
have a family, May this be the year. Lord. We
don't know what your will is in any situation, but
we do know you've told us to ask. So on
the behalf of my people, I'm asking you to meet
their needs, to answer their prayers, to hear their request. Lord,

(17:55):
I'm your friend, and I ask you to do this
because of me, but because of Jesus, because of what
Jesus did on the cross. Thank you that you were
the model of generosity for all of us, that we
could never outgive you. Well, their heads still about if
you've never invited Christ in your life. Don't you dare

(18:16):
go one more day into this new decade without saying
yes to Him? Right now in your heart, say Jesus Christ,
I'm saying yes to you. I don't understand it all.
Come into my life. Just say that, come into my life.
I want to learn to trust you and love you.
I want to follow you. I want to ask you
to accept me into your family. Just say that in

(18:36):
your heart and he will do it. Lord, make me
more like you. Help me to be generous in every
area of my life this year. I want to be
a giver, not a taker, and I want you to
use me for your glory in Jesus's name. Amen. You know,

(19:05):
if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time,
or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today,
would you let me know about it. There's something real
about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at pastorick
dot com and say Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.
I gave my life to Christ, and I'll send you
some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus,

(19:29):
and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Thanks so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
You know your prayers and financial support have a huge
impact on millions of people here and around the world,
so we really appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
And now Rick's going to share a letter from one
of our listeners who says Daily Hope is making a
real difference in their life.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Friends, here's an incredible testimony from a woman named Amy
in Indiana about how she used a Daily Hope devotional
to lead her own son to Christ. You could do
this too. Here's what she wrote. Dear Pastor Rick, I've
been carrying a burden this past month for my fifteen
year old son who had not accepted Christ. But last

(20:16):
night was the night I finally went into his room
and I asked him and he told me no, that
he hadn't accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. So
then I asked if he would like to and he
said yes. Well, I had him read the prayer of
a Salvation attached to the Daily Hope devotional, and then
I prayed with him and I prayed for him. Wow, Amy,

(20:40):
what an incredible, precious moment that you were able to
lead your son to Jesus. It's the most important thing
you'll ever do as a parent. And I'm so blessed
to hear your testimony, and I hope it encourages every
other parent to be faithful like that. I want to
just pray for you and your son right now. You're Jesus.

(21:02):
I want to thank you for caring so much that
you made a way for us to become a part
of your family so that we can join you in
heaven one day. And thank you for giving Amy the
courage to ask the question. Thank you for giving her
the courage to talk to her son about you. And
we're so grateful that he's accepted you into his heart.

(21:24):
Now we ask you to give him a receptive heart
and help him to get into God's word on a
daily basis. We know that's the way he's going to grow.
So thank you Lord for Amy's obedience and Jesus, right now,
I'm praying for more and more people to do what
Amy did to have the courage to step out and

(21:45):
share their faith with a friend, a neighbor, a loved
one who doesn't know you yet. I'm praying that you
will give them just the right words and just the
right time to share just the right message of your
salvation in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, my friends, there is
nothing more important you can do than lead somebody to

(22:08):
Jesus Christ. Your life can never be considered a failure.
If somebody is going to be in heaven because of you, youths,
help them settle their eternal destiny. Fact, that's why Daily
Hope exists. It's simply one more method to help you
tell more and more people about the forgiveness and the
hope and the salvation and the love and the joy

(22:30):
that's found in Jesus Christ. Through Daily Hope, we can
work together to help other moms and dads like Amy
and others reach their sons and their daughters for Jesus Christ. Now,
I'm always grateful for your prayers, and I'm always grateful
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(22:50):
is your donation to Daily Hope Ministry. Just ask Amy,
she's got a son who's going to be in heaven
because you gave. Thank you everybody you know.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
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Speaker 1 (23:21):
You so much for your support.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Be sure to join us next time as we look
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