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, in just a few
moments, we're going to tell you how to get a copy of the brand
new Daily Hope twenty twenty one Prayer Journal based on the theme God's Great Adventure
for You, a great resource to help make your time in prayer the best
it can be. Go to Pastorick dot com to find out more, or
text the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's
Pastorick dot com. Or the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand
and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part of
a message called Enabling the Vision, Purpose Driven Giving. 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 away to help other people. Now, I'm
going to 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 in 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 know it is It's the poor. It's the poor. Over and over
in the Bible, God said, 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 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. And God says, I'm banking
that in heaven The Bible says this that when I give to help the needs
of others, it's a test. Look at the next verse. Suppose you
see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say,
God, bless you, stay warm, eat well, But then you don't
give them any food to clothing. What good does that do. Faith that
doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all. It's dead and
useless. You know, the Bible calls the church the body of Christ,
the body of Christ. But today most churches have their hands and their feet
amputated, and all they are is to big mouth. And people know what
they're against, but they don't know what they're for. And in this church,
we've reattached the hands and the legs so we can invest in the Service
Fund. 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. The 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 consistent daily prayer time. When you give a gift to
help daily hope take the certain Hope of Jesus to people around the world,
we'll 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, God has a fifth purpose for your life. First, your plan
for his pleasure. You were formed for his family. You were created to
become like Christ, you were shaped to serve him. And number five,
you were made for a mission. God has a mission for you in the
world. He has a unique thing he wants you to fulfill. We're going
to talk about that next week. God's mission for your life. But because
He has a mission for your life, the fifth fund is he said,
I want you to invest in what I call the Global Fund. The Global
Fund. God says, I want you to use some of your money to
take the good news to the whole world. God has always cared about the
whole world. The Bible says this, I'm setting you up as a light
for the nations so that my salvation becomes global. Now, how do I
invest in this fund, the Global Fund? By using some of my money
to extend my mission? By using some of my money to extend my personal
life mission. God says, I want you to take part of it,
and I want you to invested in what I want you to do on this
earth. This is investing in yourself for the life mission God created you for
now. Luke sixteen nine is probably one of the most misunderstood versus in the
entire Bible. Jesus says, this, use worldly wealth to gain friends for
yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal
dwellings. What in the world does he mean by that? And I look
at that again. He says, I want you to use worldly wealth to
gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be
welcomed into eternal dwellings. What does that mean. Well, here's what it
means. He says, I want you to take some of your money and
I want you to use it to help other people get into heaven, so
that when you die and you get to heaven, they will welcome you there
and they'll say thank you for investing in me. I'm in heaven because of
you. And I'm not your friend for life, man, I'm your friend
for eternity because I'm in heaven because you cared enough. You bought me a
Bible, you bought me a ticket to event, you gave me a Christian
book. You did something with your money. You helped spread the news around
the world in some village that you'd never even been to. And because you
gave I'm now a follower christ and I'm in heaven because of you, and
i am eternally indebted to you. Friends, that is the greatest possible use
of your money. Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you?
Have you ever used any of your money to get anybody there to help spread
the good news, to help get the word out, to know the good
news and not share it. If I knew the cure for aids and I
didn't share it, that would be criminal. If I knew the cure for
cancer and I didn't spread it as fast as I could, that would be
criminal. But I know how people can have purpose in life, their past
forgiven, and a future in heaven, and to not share that would be
criminal. So God says, invest in getting people into heaven. It's the
highest use of your money to reach one more for Jesus, As I said,
is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? Now, let
me give you a little instant. If you don't get anything else I say
today, get what I'm saying next. If you invest your treasure on earth,
all you do is pile up treasure on Earth. Guess what, Every
day, you're getting further and further away from it. Because I hate to
tell you this, but we're all terminal. Okay, we're all terminal.
Nobody's going to live forever. You're going to get eighty at the most one
hundred years. And if you store up treasure on Earth every day of your
life, you're moving further and further away from it because you're going that direction.
On the other hand, if you store up treasure in heaven for eternity,
where you're going to get to enjoy them forever and ever and ever.
Every day you're moving closer and closer to it, because that's where you're going
to spend trillions of years, not here. So where do you want your
treasure to be? On earth or in heaven? It's your choice. Now,
God doesn't force you to do anything. Shoot, you can blow it
all on yourself. You can spend every single bit of it on your own
comfort. Just realize that every day of your life you're moving further and further
away from your treasure. But if you invest it in Heaven, every day
of your life, you're moving closer and closer to it, and you're going
to get enjoyed for eternity. I didn't say that. Jesus Christ said it,
and he is not a liar. God says it. It's a matter
of perspective. Now, last week we talked about the Global Peace Plan taking
the good news all around the world. I want to recommend that you in
this church, if you're part of this family, you set up a personal
Peace Plan savings fund, and every week you start putting a buck or five
bucks or ten bucks or whatever you can into that savings fund for you and
for your family if you have a family, so that at some point your
and your whole family can go on a piece trip somewhere in the world and
start saving for that. Why well, look at these verses. The Bible
says this, we must support believers who go on trips like this so we
can work together with them and spreading the truth. Look at the next verse.
You will honor God through this genuine act of service because of your commitment
to spread the good news of Christ, and because of your generosity and sharing.
You honor God every time you help spread the good news. Psalm two
eight, God says, ask and I will give you all the nations.
The whole earth will be yours. Now what does that verse mean, Ask
and I'll give you the nations. Here's what it means. If you want
God's blessing on your life, you want God to bless your life, bless
your career, bless your family. You want God's blessing on you, then
you must care about what God cares about most. And what does God care
about most? He wants everybody in the world to know him. He wants
every nation, every country, every person to have the opportunity to say I
accept your love. I accept your forgiveness, I accept your grace. I
accept what Jesus did for me. He wants everybody to know him. Now
listen, if you make God's primary concern the primary concern of your life,
God's gonna bless your socks off. He's gonna bless you in a way that
you cannot imagine, because God is looking for people who will care about the
whole world as much as he does. And when he finds somebody says,
you know, God, okay, you care about the whole world, then
I'm gonna care about the whole world. I'm gonna care about every nation.
When he finds people like that, he blesses them. There is no greater
cause on the universe, folks, than to live for the purposes that God
puts you on this planet, and then spread that news to as many people
around the world as fast as you can. I invite you to be a
part of the greatest cause in the world, which will be more significant than
any thing else you'll ever do. You say, how can I afford to
do this? Look at these last few verses, Luke sixteen. Jesus said
this, If you're untrustworthy about handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with
the true riches of heaven. Remember, life is a test, And God
says, I'm watching to see what you do with what I gave you.
What are you doing with what God gave you? Now? Your reward and
your responsibility to heaven, not your salvation, but your reward and responsibility for
eternity is going to be based on how you managed what God put in your
hands while you're here on earth. And it would be foolish and shortsighted to
spend it all on myself now in light of eternity. Now, the Bible
says this on the next page. God gives seed to the farmer to plant.
He'll also give you seed and multiply what you generously plant in your lives.
Read this with me. He will increase the things you do that have
his approval. My life is living proof of that verse that God will increase
the things you do that have his approval. God will multiply whatever you give
him. And God says, I want you to trust me in this.
You see, we make a living by what we get, but we make
a life by what we give. Nobody's ever remembered for anything they ever got.
They're remembered for what they gave away. I would encourage you to remember
the prayer of Agar. You've all heard of the prayer Jabez. Forget that
one and read this one. It says this, Lord, don't let me
become too poor or too rich, just give me what I need for If
I have too much, I might forget about you, And if I don't
have enough, I might steal and disgrace your name. Now that's what I
call a bounce perspective. You know, most people I know are willing to
pray the first half of this prayer out of the Bible. Lord, don't
let me become too poor. We'll all pray that one, but we don't
want to pray the rest of it. Or too rich. The bottom line
is either extreme can cause you to forget God. Wealth can make me prideful
and arrogant, and poverty can make me bitter. It's not about money,
folks. Life is not about the acquisition of things. That's not what life
is about. Money is a tool to do good. And I can do
good by investing it in the Treasury Fund and the Mutual Fund, and the
Growth Fund and the Service Fund and the Global Fund. And then I'm storing
up treasure for eternity. But I want you to know that for over forty
years, I have been investing in the Treasury Fund and the Mutual Fund,
and the Growth Fund, and the Service Fund and the Global Fund. And
when I get to Heaven, I'm going to enjoy the returns and the investment
for eternity, and I invite you to do the same. I recommend that
you use these five funds as a template in budgeting you're giving. This is
Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so thankful that you've chosen to spend some time
with us today. If you've missed any part of this broadcast, including portions
we didn't have time for, just go to pastorick dot com and listen online
anytime. Rick will be right back to close out our time today. But
first, 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 per Right now, here's Pastor Rick to tell
you more. Do you ever feel like your prayers get stuck in a rut?
Would you like to know what God told me to do? When my
prayer life got stuck in a rut. It was a time when I just
felt like I was praying the same thing over and over and over. In
fact, I was beginning to wonder if God was even answering my prayers or
even listening. Maybe you felt that way sometimes, or maybe you feel that
way right now. So what did God tell me to do? Well,
here's what he told me. It was such a powerful way to re energize
my prayer life, and it was so simple that I want to pass it
on to you. God told me to do this, he said, Rick,
start writing down what you're saying to me, and then I want you
to write down what I say to you, write down what you say to
me, and then write down what I say to you. You see,
it's really not that complicated. God just said I should start by writing down
what I'm feeling, and then I should write down what he tells me after
I've read his word. It's really just a form of journaling, and spiritual
journaling is a spiritual habit that will help your prayers stay fresh and effective.
If you've never tried it, I'm begging you try this for a week or
two and see if it doesn't reinvigorate your prayer life. Journaling has many many
benefits to your spiritual life. It'll help you stay consistent in your prayers.
It'll give you a permanent reminder of how God answers your prayers because you re've
written them down. It shows how God is working in your life. You
can go back and review it. It'll even help you worship God more and
more as you speak to him. God speaks to people who care enough to
write it down. So write down what God tells you. But you've got
to have a place to do that. Now. I want to encourage you,
and I want to help you take this simple step of learning this new
spiritual habit in your prayers, of writing down your prayers and writing down your
prayer request. So what I did is I had my Daily Hope team create
a brand new spiritual prayer journal. It's got a real simple to follow format
that will help you put into practice God's wisdom that is found in Philippians four
to six that says this, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about
everything, tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has
done. Those four things are part of the format of our prayer journal for
this year. It's really cool. You're gonna love this tool. 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 versus photo work and artwork. The God's Great Adventure for You Prayer Journal
is a spiritual growth tool designed to help you enjoy a vie vibrant prayer life,
connect with the Lord, 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 six hundred five thousand and four to get your prayer Journal and
have your gift matched up to one hundred thousand dollars, or you can visit
pastororig dot com that's eight hundred, six hundred five thousand and four or pastorig
dot com. 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 ricks Daily
Hope and your generous financial support