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Pastor Rick Warren often says you were
made by God and for God, and

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until you understand that, life will
never make sense. Welcome to Pastor Rick's

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Daily Hope. Today. In our
series called God's Vision for the Rest of

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your Life, Rick continues in his
effort to help you discover the unique purpose

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and vision that the Lord has for
your life. Now, before we get

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started, we want to let you
know that a very generous friend has given

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one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to
Daily Hope. That means that all this

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month, every dollar you give to
help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus

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around the world will be matched up
to one hundred thousand dollars. You can

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find out more by going to Pastorick
dot com or by texting the word daily

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to eight hundred six hundred five thousand
and four. That's Pastorick dot com,

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or the word daily to a eight
hundred six hundred five thousand and four.

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Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren
with part two of a message called Enabling

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the Vision Purpose Driven Giving. Now
you've heard me say it before that you

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can give without loving, but you
cannot love without giving. When I first

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fell in love with my wife.
I could not keep money in my pocket.

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It was like burning a hole in
my pocket. Every time I turn

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around I was buying or something.
I see something on TV Kitchen Magician,

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I gotta buy that, man.
You know, it didn't matter what it

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was. I just wanted to buy
her stuff. Why because I was in

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love with her. You cannot love
without giving, and so when I give,

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it draws me closer to you.
It draws me and it causes me

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to love you more. Also,
it's a witness to other people. Notice

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this next verse. When you extend
hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even

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when they're strangers, you make the
faith visible. I wish I could tell

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you all the stories, but let
me just read you. One guy in

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our church sent me this, he
said Pastor Rick. Last Sunday morning,

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a few guys from my men's small
group had breakfast at the Pancake House in

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Anaheim before heading over to Angel Stadium
for the service. When our waitress overheard

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that we were from Saddleback Church,
she insisted on paying for our breakfast herself.

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Now, when we asked her why, she said, well, there's

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a couple from Saddleback that each year, all the time, and every time

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they do. Before they pay for
their own bill, they request to pay

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the bill for two other random tables
in the restaurant as an act of love.

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She said, I don't know what
got into you, Saddleback people,

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but it's an inspiration to the rest
of us. It's what we're drinking,

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that's it's doing. That's why we
want to be famous for. We say,

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that's the church where they love each
other, with each other, where

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they take care of each other.
These people over there at Saddleback Church,

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they're the most generous people in the
whole world. Why because that's what God

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is like. It's a witness to
other people. Not only that, it

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builds unity among believers. The next
verse says how good and pleasant it is

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when God's people live together in unity. Now, there is enormous power in

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unity. You know. It's like
that phrase snowflakes are frail, but if

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enough of them stick together, they
can stop traffic. And if you can't

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do anything by yourself, and I
can't do anything by yourselves, together we

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can do something serious. Now,
why is this church so unified? I'll

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tell you why. Because the members
and the people are involved in twoy six

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hundred different church small groups spread out
all over in eighty three cities, and

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they're being generous to each other on
a weekly basis, and that builds unity.

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I know about a group who recently
paid for plane ticket for a person

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in their church. Their brother,
his brother got or her brother got Hodgkin's

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disease, and so they paid for
that person to fly back and see their

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brother. They didn't have to do
that. What were they doing. They

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were investing in the mutual fund.
And that brings unity. How good and

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pleasant it is when God's people live
together in unity. So God wants me

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to invest in his treasury fund.
That's where my heart is, my treasure

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will be, that's giving back to
Him in worship. God wants me to

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invest in the mutual fund, use
some of my money to show love to

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the people around me. Number three, God wants me to invest in his

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growth fund. His growth fund,
because the third purpose of life is God

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wants you to grow up spiritually.
So he says, I want you to

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take some of the money and invest
it in yourself. I want you to

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invest it in personal improvement, in
personal growth. The Bible says in Second

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Peter three eighteen, grow in spiritual
strength and become better acquainted with our Lord

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and savior, Jesus Christ. Now
how do I do that? How do

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I invest in the growth fund?
Well, you can write this down by

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using some of my money to enhance
my character. To enhance my character,

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some of my money expresses worship.
Some of my money encourages fellowship. Some

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of my money enhances my own personal
character, enhances my own personal growth.

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The Bible says this, the earnings
of the godly enhance their lives. But

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people evil, people squander their money
on sin. Now, there's a zillion

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ways to waste your money instead of
using it to grow. But God says,

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I want you to use some of
your money to grow spiritually. Use

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some of your money to develop skills. Use some of your money to educate

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yourself. Use some of your money
to become a better person. To improve

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yourself in every area of your life. You become a better leader, You

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become a better speaker, you become
a better prayer, you become a better

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person. He says, use some
of your money to do that. Now,

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why, because that's what's gonna last. Now. I hate to tell

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you this, but you're not taking
your car to heaven with you. You're

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not taking your car, and you're
not gonna take your condo to heaven with

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you, and you're not gonna take
your couch to heaven with you. And

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you're not gonna take your clothes to
heaven with you, and you're not gonna

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take your china to heaven with you. You are gonna take your character what

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you are. So God says,
use some of your money to invest in

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something that's going to heaven, so
you store up treasure in heaven. None

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of those other things are going.
So he says, invest in yourself for

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spiritual growth. And they see what
we like to do. We like to

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use our money to invest in comfort. But God says, no, invest

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in character, because character is what
you're going to have the rest of eternity.

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Notice what the Bible says Proverbs twenty
three, buy truth and don't sell

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it for lover. Money by wisdom, by education, by insight. Now

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what does that mean. It means
anytime you use your money to buy a

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spiritual book, a Christian book that
helps you grow, you've invested in the

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growth fund. Anytime you use some
of your money to pay for a seminar

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or a men's retreat or a women's
retreat, or a conference that helps you

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improve your life in any area of
your life. You've invested in the growth

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fund. Anytime you use your money
to take a class or get an education

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or anything that makes you more of
what God wanted you to be and you

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develop what God has given you.
God looks down and he smiles, and

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he says, that's a good use
of money. You are investing in your

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growth fund. As I said,
we liked invest in comfort, but God

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says, no invest in your character. You know, I'll never forget.

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When I bought my first Bible,
I was a teenager, and I thought,

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you know, this is the most
important book to me out of any

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book. So I'm going to get
the best one I can find. And

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I went out and I did a
little research, and I found out these

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study bibles that have additional study materials
in them to help you. And I

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found one that I liked called the
Thompson Chain Reference Bible. And then I

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said, I'm going to get this
one in a binding that lasts, So

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I'm going to get it in the
nicest leather that I could find. And

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I remember this is years ago.
As a teenager, and it cost me

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sixty bucks to buy that Bible.
Now, as a teenager, that was

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two entire months of my allowance,
and I just thought, Okay, I

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could give up all my snacks,
give up movies and all the other things

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that teenagers spend their money on,
and for two months, I won't have

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any of that, but I'll get
a really cool Bible that I can use

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for the rest of my life.
I'm fifty one now. I still have

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that Bible and it's my most prized
treasure possession because I've been through it so

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many times and underlined it and colored
it and marked it all up, and

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it's just it's been personalized for me. And when I was thinking about that,

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I thought about this verse Isaiah fifty
five to two. It says this,

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why spend your money on food that
doesn't give you strength? And does

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you know good? Listen, I'll
tell you where to get food that's good

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for the soul. He said.
Now you can spend your money on junk

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food or soul food. Okay,
this is soul food. It's food for

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your soul. Some of that stuff's
just empty calories. But he says,

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this is soul food. It's going
to help you grow. Look at the

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next verse. It is better,
much better to have wisdom and knowledge than

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gold or you know. Don't pile
up all your wealth just to have it

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all piled up, he says,
use it. This is really profound here.

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Money is a lot like fertilizer.
Okay, if you pile it all

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up, it just starts stinking.
But if you spread it around, it

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makes things grow. Hm. God
says, use your money for a purpose.

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Use some of it to express love
to me. That's the treasury fund.

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Use some of it express love to
other believers in the God's family.

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That's the mutual fund. Use some
of it to help yourself grow personally,

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that's the growth fund. He says, I want you to grow and invest

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some of your money to make yourself
better and smarter and wiser and a more

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skilled person. You see, when
you do that, you can make yourself

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an offering to God. You cannot
only give an offering. The Bible says,

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you can be an offering. This
next verse, take your everyday ordinary

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life you're sleeping, eating, going
to work, and walking around life,

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and place it before God as an
offering. You're actually you become an offering.

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Embracing what God does for you is
the best thing you can do for

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him. So he's saying, you
don't just give an offering. You make

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yourself an offering by making yourself a
better person by investing in the Growth Fund

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so that God can use you,
and you become an offering. Thank you

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so much for listening to Pastor Rick's
Daily Hope. We've got some incredible news

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to share with you. A very
generous friend has given a one hundred thousand

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dollars matching grant to this ministry all
this month. Every dollar you give to

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help Daily Hope share the certain hope
of Jesus around the world will be matched

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up to one hundred thousand dollars,
So twenty five dollars becomes fifty dollars,

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fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred
becomes a thousand. Whatever you give will

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be doubled by the matching grant up
to one hundred thousand dollars, but only

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till midnight December thirty first, So
please contact us today. Go to Pastorick

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dot com or just call eight hundred
six hundred five thousand and four if you

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want to make your time in prayer
the best it can be, then you're

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going to want to get a copy
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Hope Prayer Journal. This year's theme, God's Great Adventure for You, will

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time. When you give a gift
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of Jesus to people around the world, will send you the all new twenty

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matched up to one hundred thousand dollars or

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you can visit pastorick dot com.
That's eight hundred at six hundred five zero

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zero four or pastorick dot com.
You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once

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again. Here's Pastor Rick Warren.
Now, the fourth kind of fun that

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God wants you to invest in is
what I call the Equity Service Fund.

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The Equity Service Fund why because the
fourth purpose of your life is God wants

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you to practice serving Him by serving
other people. Remember, when you get

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to heaven, you're gonna do four
things. You're gonna love God, so

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he wants you to practice here.
You're gonna love other people, so he

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wants you to practice here. You're
gonna grow spiritually, so he wants you

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to practice here. And you're gonna
serve God in heaven, so he wants

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you to practice here. Now,
one of the ways you can serve other

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people is by serving them financially,
and so the Equity Service Fund is the

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fourth way God says, I want
you to use some of your money to

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help people in need. They don't
have to be believers, they don't even

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they can be total strangers, but
I want you to minister to them through

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the Equity Service Fund. I want
you to help people in need. Now,

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in the Bible, there was a
church in Greece that did the same

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thing. They heard about another church
that was in trouble, going through a

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famine, and so they gave them
some money. Notice what the Bible says.

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They gave as much as they were
able, and even more than they

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could afford. No one told them
to do it needed with us to let

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them share in this service. That's
the service fund for God's people. So

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how do I invest in the equity
service fund? We can write this down

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by using some of my money to
expand my ministry. I use some of

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my money to expand my ministry.
Remember, everybody's got a ministry. Not

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everybody's a pastor, but everybody's a
minister because God calls us. God didn't

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put you on this earth to live
for yourself and be a selfish little clod.

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God puts you on this earth to
serve other people, to make the

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world a better place. You're not
doing that. You're missing one of the

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purposes of your life. And God
says, I want you to use some

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of your money to expand your ministry. Ministry just means meeting the needs of

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other people. In Jesus' name,
a financial need, a physical need,

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an emotional need, a practical need. Look at these verses. The Bible

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on the next page says this,
I want you to excel in this gracious

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ministry of giving and acts twenty thirty
five Jesus. It tells us we must

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support the week remembering the words of
the Lord Jesus. It is more blessed.

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That means happy. It's more blessed
to give than to receive. That's

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what Jesus said. Now imagine this. I want you to get this.

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Let's say you had a father who
was a multi multi billionaire, and one

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day your dad brings you in and
he says, I've got this huge fortune

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that I want to give to you. I want to share it with you,

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but I need to know if you're
capable of handling it. And I

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need to test you to see if
you can handle this amount of wealth.

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So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you a set

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amount of money to live on,
and then I want you to learn to

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live on less than the amount I
give you. And I want you to

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live on less than the amount I
give you, so you can give some

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of it a way to help other
people. Now, I'm gonna be watching

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you to see how you manage and
distribute my money. Remember it's mine.

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I'm just gonna give it to you, and I'm gonna watch and see how

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you manage and distribute it. And
if you do well, I'm gonna give

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it all to you. Now,
what would you do with that money?

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You'd be very very careful and how
you used it. God has said the

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same thing to you. He said, I want to bring you to heaven

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one day, and I want you
to share my wealth in heaven forever and

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ever and ever. But this is
a test, folks. Life is a

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test, and God is watching you
to see. Are you gonna just spend

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it all on yourself? Wrong answer. I can't trust you with it.

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Are you gonna be generous with what
I give to you, says God?

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Are you gonna pass it around,
spread it around? Are you just gonna

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hoard it? God says, I'm
watching and I'm testing. The Bible makes

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very clear that this life is a
test in preparation for the next how to

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use your time, how you use
your money, your relationships, and everything

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else. That's why the Bible says
this in Proverbs eleven twenty four. The

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world of the generous gets larger and
larger, the world of the stingy gets

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smaller and smaller. Here's the point. The more you give to others,

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the more God gives to you.
I could give you a personal testimony that

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would take the rest of the day
on that one. The more you give

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to others, the more God gives
to you. Now why does he do

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that? Because God wants you to
learn to be like him. God.

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Probably the number one quality, or
one of the main qualities of God is

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He's generous. Everything you have in
your life is because of the generosity of

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God. You would have zip nothing, nada if it weren't for God's generosity.

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You wouldn't even be alive. If
it weren't for God's generosity. He

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created you. He said, what
about all the things I worked for and

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I earn? Where do you think
you got the ability to work? Who

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gave you your mind, Who gave
you your hands, who gave you your

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health, who decided to have you
born here and give you the freedom?

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Who gave you all. Everything you
have in your life is a total gift

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from God. You'd have nothing without
God. And God is generous, And

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he says, you know what,
I want my children to be like me,

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like father, like son. So
I'm going to set up the universe

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that every time you're generous, I'm
going to reward you because I want you

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to learn to be like me.
I want you to learn to be giving

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and generous. And so the world
of the generous gets larger and larger,

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the world of the stingy gets smaller
and smaller. Now there's one group of

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people that God really especially wants us
to be generous with you. It is

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it's the poor. It's the poor. Over and over in the Bible,

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God says, I'm watching how you
handle the poor. How do you react

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to the homeless, to the poor
that people have nothing? And so he

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gives us promises. Here are just
a couple of them. Proverbs twenty eight

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says, give to the poor,
and you will never be in need.

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That's God's promise. But if you
close your eyes to the poor, many

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will curse you. And Proverbs nineteen
says, when you give to the poor,

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it's like lending to the lord,
and the Lord will pay you back.

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Do you remember last fall during forty
days of community and our church decided

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that we would feed every homeless person
in Orange County three meals a day for

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forty days. That was the task
we took on during forty days of community

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feed every homeless person in this county
three meals a day for forty days.

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And then we found out it was
forty two thousand people homeless, and we

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did it, and you gave and
collected over two million pounds of food and

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it took nine thousand, two hundred
volunteers in this church to collect the sort

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and to distribute, and we fed
them all for forty days. You know

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what you were doing those you participated
in that, you were investing in the

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Equity Service Fund. God says,
I'm banking that in Heaven. Thank you

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so much for listening to Pastor Rick's
Daily Hope. We've got some incredible news

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to share with you. A very
generous friend has given a one hundred thousand

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dollars matching grant to this ministry.
That means that all this month, every

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dollar you give to help Daily Hope
share the certain hope of Jesus around the

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world will be matched up to one
hundred thousand dollars. Here's Pastor Rick to

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tell you more. Hi everybody you
know. As we come to the end

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of this year, one of the
things that worries me the most is that

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there's still about three thousand people groups, small tribes in the world where there

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are no Bibles, no believers,
and no body of Christ. We call

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these people the unreached, unengaged people
groups, and it's one of the reasons

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we started Daily Hope to take the
good news to the final frontier. We

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need to make every effort to reach
these people with a Bible, a believer,

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and a new church. Now,
thanks to your support, we're being

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able to do this. Thanks to
your support, we're now broadcasting on radio

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stations literally not just across America,
but all around the world. We're in

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places like Rwanda and Uganda. We're
in places like South Sudan which has very

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very little Zambia, Korea, things
like that. But we're also reaching even

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more people and more nations through the
world with our Daily Hope podcast online.

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It goes literally to the whole world. Now, as we've end this year,

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I want to express to you how
much I appreciate your per support and

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your financial support of Daily Hope for
this global effort. I can't do it

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without you. You can't do it
without me. And as you consider your

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year in giving, I want to
ask you to pray about giving a special

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gift to Daily Hope. Together,
we're partners and going to the final frontier

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of people who have never heard of
Jesus Christ. Now, the good news

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is this, a generous friend of
Daily Hope is offering at the end of

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the year a matching gift. That's
a challenge gift, which means they will

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match whatever gift you give. In
other words, whatever you give will be

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doubled because of their matching that gift. So I'm going to ask you,

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I'm going to be very boldest,
give the biggest gift you can possibly give

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at the end of the year.
At this Christmas time, God gives his

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gift to us, we give our
gifts back to him in Thanksgiving and out

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of Christmas, we give our gifts
to Jesus. It's his birthday. And

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when you do, it will be
matched by a donor, doubling the impact

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of your gift. Thanks so much, and we're going to enjoy the end

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of the holiday seasons and we're going
to enjoy the new year together. God

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bless you. Remember, as Rick
just shared Whatever you give today will be

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doubled by the matching grant up to
one hundred thousand dollars, but only till

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00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:19.680
midnight, December thirty first. Anything
not matched will be lost, so please

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00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:26.519
contact us today. You can give
right now by going to Pastorick dot com

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00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.880
or by calling eight hundred six hundred
five thousand and four. We'll say thanks

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00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:37.519
by sending you the brand new Daily
Hope Prayer Journal that's Pastorrick dot com or

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00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:41.480
call eight hundred six hundred five thousand
and four. Be sure to join us

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00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:48.000
again next time as we look into
God's Word for our daily hope. This

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program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily
Hope and your generous financial support