Pastor Rick Warren often says you were made by God and for God, and
until you understand that, life will never make sense. Welcome to Pastor Rick's
Daily Hope. Today. In our series called God's Vision for the Rest of
your Life, Rick continues in his effort to help you discover the unique purpose
and vision that the Lord has for your life. Now, before we get
started, we want to let you know that a very generous friend has given
one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That means that all this
month, every dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus
around the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars. You can
find out more by going to Pastorick dot com or by texting the word daily
to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com,
or the word daily to a eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part two of a message called Enabling
the Vision Purpose Driven Giving. Now you've heard me say it before that you
can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. When I first
fell in love with my wife. I could not keep money in my pocket.
It was like burning a hole in my pocket. Every time I turn
around I was buying or something. I see something on TV Kitchen Magician,
I gotta buy that, man. You know, it didn't matter what it
was. I just wanted to buy her stuff. Why because I was in
love with her. You cannot love without giving, and so when I give,
it draws me closer to you. It draws me and it causes me
to love you more. Also, it's a witness to other people. Notice
this next verse. When you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even
when they're strangers, you make the faith visible. I wish I could tell
you all the stories, but let me just read you. One guy in
our church sent me this, he said Pastor Rick. Last Sunday morning,
a few guys from my men's small group had breakfast at the Pancake House in
Anaheim before heading over to Angel Stadium for the service. When our waitress overheard
that we were from Saddleback Church, she insisted on paying for our breakfast herself.
Now, when we asked her why, she said, well, there's
a couple from Saddleback that each year, all the time, and every time
they do. Before they pay for their own bill, they request to pay
the bill for two other random tables in the restaurant as an act of love.
She said, I don't know what got into you, Saddleback people,
but it's an inspiration to the rest of us. It's what we're drinking,
that's it's doing. That's why we want to be famous for. We say,
that's the church where they love each other, with each other, where
they take care of each other. These people over there at Saddleback Church,
they're the most generous people in the whole world. Why because that's what God
is like. It's a witness to other people. Not only that, it
builds unity among believers. The next verse says how good and pleasant it is
when God's people live together in unity. Now, there is enormous power in
unity. You know. It's like that phrase snowflakes are frail, but if
enough of them stick together, they can stop traffic. And if you can't
do anything by yourself, and I can't do anything by yourselves, together we
can do something serious. Now, why is this church so unified? I'll
tell you why. Because the members and the people are involved in twoy six
hundred different church small groups spread out all over in eighty three cities, and
they're being generous to each other on a weekly basis, and that builds unity.
I know about a group who recently paid for plane ticket for a person
in their church. Their brother, his brother got or her brother got Hodgkin's
disease, and so they paid for that person to fly back and see their
brother. They didn't have to do that. What were they doing. They
were investing in the mutual fund. And that brings unity. How good and
pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. So God wants me
to invest in his treasury fund. That's where my heart is, my treasure
will be, that's giving back to Him in worship. God wants me to
invest in the mutual fund, use some of my money to show love to
the people around me. Number three, God wants me to invest in his
growth fund. His growth fund, because the third purpose of life is God
wants you to grow up spiritually. So he says, I want you to
take some of the money and invest it in yourself. I want you to
invest it in personal improvement, in personal growth. The Bible says in Second
Peter three eighteen, grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord
and savior, Jesus Christ. Now how do I do that? How do
I invest in the growth fund? Well, you can write this down by
using some of my money to enhance my character. To enhance my character,
some of my money expresses worship. Some of my money encourages fellowship. Some
of my money enhances my own personal character, enhances my own personal growth.
The Bible says this, the earnings of the godly enhance their lives. But
people evil, people squander their money on sin. Now, there's a zillion
ways to waste your money instead of using it to grow. But God says,
I want you to use some of your money to grow spiritually. Use
some of your money to develop skills. Use some of your money to educate
yourself. Use some of your money to become a better person. To improve
yourself in every area of your life. You become a better leader, You
become a better speaker, you become a better prayer, you become a better
person. He says, use some of your money to do that. Now,
why, because that's what's gonna last. Now. I hate to tell
you this, but you're not taking your car to heaven with you. You're
not taking your car, and you're not gonna take your condo to heaven with
you, and you're not gonna take your couch to heaven with you. And
you're not gonna take your clothes to heaven with you, and you're not gonna
take your china to heaven with you. You are gonna take your character what
you are. So God says, use some of your money to invest in
something that's going to heaven, so you store up treasure in heaven. None
of those other things are going. So he says, invest in yourself for
spiritual growth. And they see what we like to do. We like to
use our money to invest in comfort. But God says, no, invest
in character, because character is what you're going to have the rest of eternity.
Notice what the Bible says Proverbs twenty three, buy truth and don't sell
it for lover. Money by wisdom, by education, by insight. Now
what does that mean. It means anytime you use your money to buy a
spiritual book, a Christian book that helps you grow, you've invested in the
growth fund. Anytime you use some of your money to pay for a seminar
or a men's retreat or a women's retreat, or a conference that helps you
improve your life in any area of your life. You've invested in the growth
fund. Anytime you use your money to take a class or get an education
or anything that makes you more of what God wanted you to be and you
develop what God has given you. God looks down and he smiles, and
he says, that's a good use of money. You are investing in your
growth fund. As I said, we liked invest in comfort, but God
says, no invest in your character. You know, I'll never forget.
When I bought my first Bible, I was a teenager, and I thought,
you know, this is the most important book to me out of any
book. So I'm going to get the best one I can find. And
I went out and I did a little research, and I found out these
study bibles that have additional study materials in them to help you. And I
found one that I liked called the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. And then I
said, I'm going to get this one in a binding that lasts, So
I'm going to get it in the nicest leather that I could find. And
I remember this is years ago. As a teenager, and it cost me
sixty bucks to buy that Bible. Now, as a teenager, that was
two entire months of my allowance, and I just thought, Okay, I
could give up all my snacks, give up movies and all the other things
that teenagers spend their money on, and for two months, I won't have
any of that, but I'll get a really cool Bible that I can use
for the rest of my life. I'm fifty one now. I still have
that Bible and it's my most prized treasure possession because I've been through it so
many times and underlined it and colored it and marked it all up, and
it's just it's been personalized for me. And when I was thinking about that,
I thought about this verse Isaiah fifty five to two. It says this,
why spend your money on food that doesn't give you strength? And does
you know good? Listen, I'll tell you where to get food that's good
for the soul. He said. Now you can spend your money on junk
food or soul food. Okay, this is soul food. It's food for
your soul. Some of that stuff's just empty calories. But he says,
this is soul food. It's going to help you grow. Look at the
next verse. It is better, much better to have wisdom and knowledge than
gold or you know. Don't pile up all your wealth just to have it
all piled up, he says, use it. This is really profound here.
Money is a lot like fertilizer. Okay, if you pile it all
up, it just starts stinking. But if you spread it around, it
makes things grow. Hm. God says, use your money for a purpose.
Use some of it to express love to me. That's the treasury fund.
Use some of it express love to other believers in the God's family.
That's the mutual fund. Use some of it to help yourself grow personally,
that's the growth fund. He says, I want you to grow and invest
some of your money to make yourself better and smarter and wiser and a more
skilled person. You see, when you do that, you can make yourself
an offering to God. You cannot only give an offering. The Bible says,
you can be an offering. This next verse, take your everyday ordinary
life you're sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life,
and place it before God as an offering. You're actually you become an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for
him. So he's saying, you don't just give an offering. You make
yourself an offering by making yourself a better person by investing in the Growth Fund
so that God can use you, and you become an offering. Thank you
so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We've got some incredible news
to share with you. A very generous friend has given a one hundred thousand
dollars matching grant to this ministry all this month. Every dollar you give to
help Daily Hope share the certain hope of Jesus around the world will be matched
up to one hundred thousand dollars, So twenty five dollars becomes fifty dollars,
fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a thousand. Whatever you give will
be doubled by the matching grant up to one hundred thousand dollars, but only
till midnight December thirty first, So please contact us today. Go to Pastorick
dot com or just call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four if you
want to make your time in prayer the best it can be, then you're
going to want to get a copy of the brand new twenty twenty one Daily
Hope Prayer Journal. This year's theme, God's Great Adventure for You, will
help you tap into God's power and presence when you learn how to pray with
passion and purpose. Covered in soft vegan leather with full color pages, this
prayer journal has sections to pray for specific people and situations, as well as
space to express your gratitude and personal prayer requests to God. Each page is
beautifully designed and filled with inspiring Bible verses, photos and artwork. God's Great
Adventure for You Prayer Journal is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy
a vibrant prayer life, connect with God, and establish a consistent daily prayer
time. When you give a gift to help daily hope take the certain hope
of Jesus to people around the world, will send you the all new twenty
twenty one Daily Hope Prayer Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so
don't wait. Call eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero four to get
your Prayer Journal and have your gift matched up to one hundred thousand dollars or
you can visit pastorick dot com. That's eight hundred at six hundred five zero
zero four or pastorick dot com. You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once
again. Here's Pastor Rick Warren. Now, the fourth kind of fun that
God wants you to invest in is what I call the Equity Service Fund.
The Equity Service Fund why because the fourth purpose of your life is God wants
you to practice serving Him by serving other people. Remember, when you get
to heaven, you're gonna do four things. You're gonna love God, so
he wants you to practice here. You're gonna love other people, so he
wants you to practice here. You're gonna grow spiritually, so he wants you
to practice here. And you're gonna serve God in heaven, so he wants
you to practice here. Now, one of the ways you can serve other
people is by serving them financially, and so the Equity Service Fund is the
fourth way God says, I want you to use some of your money to
help people in need. They don't have to be believers, they don't even
they can be total strangers, but I want you to minister to them through
the Equity Service Fund. I want you to help people in need. Now,
in the Bible, there was a church in Greece that did the same
thing. They heard about another church that was in trouble, going through a
famine, and so they gave them some money. Notice what the Bible says.
They gave as much as they were able, and even more than they
could afford. No one told them to do it needed with us to let
them share in this service. That's the service fund for God's people. So
how do I invest in the equity service fund? We can write this down
by using some of my money to expand my ministry. I use some of
my money to expand my ministry. Remember, everybody's got a ministry. Not
everybody's a pastor, but everybody's a minister because God calls us. God didn't
put you on this earth to live for yourself and be a selfish little clod.
God puts you on this earth to serve other people, to make the
world a better place. You're not doing that. You're missing one of the
purposes of your life. And God says, I want you to use some
of your money to expand your ministry. Ministry just means meeting the needs of
other people. In Jesus' name, a financial need, a physical need,
an emotional need, a practical need. Look at these verses. The Bible
on the next page says this, I want you to excel in this gracious
ministry of giving and acts twenty thirty five Jesus. It tells us we must
support the week remembering the words of the Lord Jesus. It is more blessed.
That means happy. It's more blessed to give than to receive. That's
what Jesus said. Now imagine this. I want you to get this.
Let's say you had a father who was a multi multi billionaire, and one
day your dad brings you in and he says, I've got this huge fortune
that I want to give to you. I want to share it with you,
but I need to know if you're capable of handling it. And I
need to test you to see if you can handle this amount of wealth.
So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you a set
amount of money to live on, and then I want you to learn to
live on less than the amount I give you. And I want you to
live on less than the amount I give you, so you can give some
of it a way to help other people. Now, I'm gonna be watching
you to see how you manage and distribute my money. Remember it's mine.
I'm just gonna give it to you, and I'm gonna watch and see how
you manage and distribute it. And if you do well, I'm gonna give
it all to you. Now, what would you do with that money?
You'd be very very careful and how you used it. God has said the
same thing to you. He said, I want to bring you to heaven
one day, and I want you to share my wealth in heaven forever and
ever and ever. But this is a test, folks. Life is a
test, and God is watching you to see. Are you gonna just spend
it all on yourself? Wrong answer. I can't trust you with it.
Are you gonna be generous with what I give to you, says God?
Are you gonna pass it around, spread it around? Are you just gonna
hoard it? God says, I'm watching and I'm testing. The Bible makes
very clear that this life is a test in preparation for the next how to
use your time, how you use your money, your relationships, and everything
else. That's why the Bible says this in Proverbs eleven twenty four. The
world of the generous gets larger and larger, the world of the stingy gets
smaller and smaller. Here's the point. The more you give to others,
the more God gives to you. I could give you a personal testimony that
would take the rest of the day on that one. The more you give
to others, the more God gives to you. Now why does he do
that? Because God wants you to learn to be like him. God.
Probably the number one quality, or one of the main qualities of God is
He's generous. Everything you have in your life is because of the generosity of
God. You would have zip nothing, nada if it weren't for God's generosity.
You wouldn't even be alive. If it weren't for God's generosity. He
created you. He said, what about all the things I worked for and
I earn? Where do you think you got the ability to work? Who
gave you your mind, Who gave you your hands, who gave you your
health, who decided to have you born here and give you the freedom?
Who gave you all. Everything you have in your life is a total gift
from God. You'd have nothing without God. And God is generous, And
he says, you know what, I want my children to be like me,
like father, like son. So I'm going to set up the universe
that every time you're generous, I'm going to reward you because I want you
to learn to be like me. I want you to learn to be giving
and generous. And so the world of the generous gets larger and larger,
the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. Now there's one group of
people that God really especially wants us to be generous with you. It is
it's the poor. It's the poor. Over and over in the Bible,
God says, I'm watching how you handle the poor. How do you react
to the homeless, to the poor that people have nothing? And so he
gives us promises. Here are just a couple of them. Proverbs twenty eight
says, give to the poor, and you will never be in need.
That's God's promise. But if you close your eyes to the poor, many
will curse you. And Proverbs nineteen says, when you give to the poor,
it's like lending to the lord, and the Lord will pay you back.
Do you remember last fall during forty days of community and our church decided
that we would feed every homeless person in Orange County three meals a day for
forty days. That was the task we took on during forty days of community
feed every homeless person in this county three meals a day for forty days.
And then we found out it was forty two thousand people homeless, and we
did it, and you gave and collected over two million pounds of food and
it took nine thousand, two hundred volunteers in this church to collect the sort
and to distribute, and we fed them all for forty days. You know
what you were doing those you participated in that, you were investing in the
Equity Service Fund. God says, I'm banking that in Heaven. Thank you
so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We've got some incredible news
to share with you. A very generous friend has given a one hundred thousand
dollars matching grant to this ministry. That means that all this month, every
dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the certain hope of Jesus around the
world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars. Here's Pastor Rick to
tell you more. Hi everybody you know. As we come to the end
of this year, one of the things that worries me the most is that
there's still about three thousand people groups, small tribes in the world where there
are no Bibles, no believers, and no body of Christ. We call
these people the unreached, unengaged people groups, and it's one of the reasons
we started Daily Hope to take the good news to the final frontier. We
need to make every effort to reach these people with a Bible, a believer,
and a new church. Now, thanks to your support, we're being
able to do this. Thanks to your support, we're now broadcasting on radio
stations literally not just across America, but all around the world. We're in
places like Rwanda and Uganda. We're in places like South Sudan which has very
very little Zambia, Korea, things like that. But we're also reaching even
more people and more nations through the world with our Daily Hope podcast online.
It goes literally to the whole world. Now, as we've end this year,
I want to express to you how much I appreciate your per support and
your financial support of Daily Hope for this global effort. I can't do it
without you. You can't do it without me. And as you consider your
year in giving, I want to ask you to pray about giving a special
gift to Daily Hope. Together, we're partners and going to the final frontier
of people who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Now, the good news
is this, a generous friend of Daily Hope is offering at the end of
the year a matching gift. That's a challenge gift, which means they will
match whatever gift you give. In other words, whatever you give will be
doubled because of their matching that gift. So I'm going to ask you,
I'm going to be very boldest, give the biggest gift you can possibly give
at the end of the year. At this Christmas time, God gives his
gift to us, we give our gifts back to him in Thanksgiving and out
of Christmas, we give our gifts to Jesus. It's his birthday. And
when you do, it will be matched by a donor, doubling the impact
of your gift. Thanks so much, and we're going to enjoy the end
of the holiday seasons and we're going to enjoy the new year together. God
bless you. Remember, as Rick just shared Whatever you give today will be
doubled by the matching grant up to one hundred thousand dollars, but only till
midnight, December thirty first. Anything not matched will be lost, so please
contact us today. You can give right now by going to Pastorick dot com
or by calling eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. We'll say thanks
by sending you the brand new Daily Hope Prayer Journal that's Pastorrick dot com or
call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Be sure to join us
again 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