This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren.
Well, today we continue with our special Christmas series called The Light of
Jesus at Christmas. In these lessons, Pastor Rick shows us how the Light
of Jesus brought into the world at Christmas, illuminates, purifies, heals,
and grows each of us in this season and beyond. 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 eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right
now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with part two of a message called will I
Make Room for Jesus? One Corinthians to fourteen. The unspiritual person has no
room there's that phrase no room for the gifts of God's spirit. In fact,
to him, they're folly. He can't even recognize them. I can't
put anything more in there because it's already crammed full of stuff. You've probably
got closets like that. Somebody brought you a whole new wardrobe, you have
no place to put it because your area is crammed. We overbook our lives,
we overspend our budget, we overestimate our strength, and all of these
things, and we walk around tired all the time because we've overbooked our heart.
Jesus describes it in Mark, chapter four, verse nineteen. He says,
they are overwhelmed with worries. They're overwhelmed with worries about all the things
they have to do and all the things they want to get that sound familiar,
and the stress strangles what they heard and nothing comes of it. Their
life is overbooked. Their life is overcrowded. And by the way, the
reason why somebody can go to church their entire life and it doesn't change them
is because of this crowded heart syndrome. You come and you hear a truth,
you know a kernel of truth. You get a little seed of wisdom
and it is planted in your heart. You think, yeah, I need
to do that. But you go home and immediately you're distracted by all the
things you have to do, all the things you want to get, and
you forget it, and that seed is choked and it never grows into a
fruit producing tree. You see, I'm not talking about evil things here.
I'm just you can fill your life with good things, really good things,
still not have any time for God. I mean, you could go to
church six days a week, you could be involved ministry all the time,
and you're so busy working for God. God doesn't have any time to work
in you. That's why the Bible says, be still and know that I
am God. Translation, sit down and shut up is a chill out.
You need to relax. Stop trying to do so much. Let God do
more in you. It's much more relaxing and much more fulfilling. One example
of this is Jesus had some friends named Mary and Martha. They were sisters,
and one day they invite him over for dinner. So Jesus goes over
for dinner. Mary figures out what's important. This is the son of God
at our house. We're only gonna get this once in a lifetime. So
she sits down at the feet of Jesus will start listening. But Martha was
busy worrying about the rd'euvs and you know, as everything in its place.
And here's where the story picks up. In Luke chapter ten. It says
Mary sat at Jesus' feet listening to what he said. Okay, but Martha
was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Sounds like Christmas.
You know, you could have spent the entire last month buying gifts,
wrapping gifts, decorating the house, putting up the lights, fixing the tree,
sending out the cards, preparing the meals, getting everything done. Have
you had any time for Jesus? No, it's his birthday. We're so
busy with the preparation. You don't have any time for him. There's no
room in your heart. It's crowded. Martha was distracted at all the preparations
that had to be made, and she came to Jesus and said, Lord,
don't you care that my sister's left me to do all the work by
myself. Sounds like a sister tell her to help me. But Jesus said,
Dear Martha, you get upset over all these little details, but there's
really only one thing worth being concerned about, and Mary has discovered it.
What is that? Getting to know the Son of God, getting to know
Jesus Christ. Why? Because everything else you do isn't going to matter an
eternity. Your career isn't going to last beyond your lifetime. Your hobbies aren't
going to last beyond your lifetime. Your bank account isn't going to last beyond
your lifetime. The only thing that's going to last beyond your lifetime is your
relationship to God. And God puts you on earth not just to take up
space, breathe, use air, retire and die. He puts you here
so you could get to know Him, to know and love him the way
He knows and loves you. That's going to last forever and ever and ever.
So, Jesus says, Mary has figured out the one thing that's worth
being concerned about. You know, as somebody who does care about you as
a friend, as a pastor. If I could give you any gift this
Christmas, my wish would be that you would figure out what's the one thing
that matters most and it isn't getting more money, and it isn't becoming famous,
and it isn't even having fun. It's getting to know the creator who
made you and building a relationship so you go to be with him forever an
eternity when this life's over. You know what I've discovered. See as I'm
saying here, you can do lots of good things and still not having any
room for Jesus in your life. What I've discovered is if Satan can't make
you bad, he'll just make you busy. He doesn't care what distracts you.
It doesn't have to be evil as long as you pay no attention to
God in your life. It could be all kinds of good things that are
proper. In fact, there are all gifts from God, but they're not
God. And you can't have Him at the center of your life because if
that's the center of your life, then when that dies eyes you fall apart.
If your job's the center of your life, your life falls apart when
you lose it. If your bank accounts the center of your life, your
life falls apart when the stocks tank. But if God is the center of
your life, nothing can shake you because it can't be taken from you.
Deuteronomy. The Bible says it like this, make sure that you don't become
so full. In other words, your life is so crammed there's no room.
You're so full of yourself and your things that you forget God. You
see, we don't pay attention when God's around. We're just not even listening.
And we crowd our lives with so many other things, even good things,
that we don't have any time for God. The third reason we don't
make room is because we really don't think we need to make room for God.
The bottom line is, we really don't think we need to make room
for Jesus. We have a sense of self sufficiency, says I'm doing fine
on my own. Oh really, Now you may be living a good life,
you see, I'm living the good life. Great. Would you like
to know if there's a better life, because there is. The good life
is good, But the good life is not good enough. You need the
better life. I mean, when I was a kid, my mom fed
me spaghettios. Now I thought they were the world until I discovered in and
out Burger, and I went from the good life to the better life.
If there was a better life, than you're living right now, and God
wanted to give it to you. Don't you think you'd be interested in it?
Well, yes you would. Don't you think I'd think I at least
want to check it out? Yeah? I think he would. And he's
saying here, we don't think we need to make room for him. See
this is what the innkeeper did. The innkeeper saying, why do I need
any more guests? Sorry, no room. I've already sold out. I've
made my bundle, I've bankrolled it. I made as much money as I'm
going to make tonight. So I really couldn't care less about anybody else because
my life, my inn, my rooms are full. And a lot of
people say that to Jesus today. My life, the rooms of my heart
are full. I don't have any room for God, don't have any room
for Jesus. 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 dub 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 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, 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
and 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. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor
Rick Warren. Once again, here's Rick. You want to know what your
God is, I'll tell you what it is. It's who. Whatever you
think about most, whatever you think about most in your life, is your
God, because that's what's most important to you. Now. For some people,
their God is their career. For some people their God is their family.
For some people their God is making money or whatever. But whatever is
first place in your thought, what you think about most is your God,
and anything that's not God becomes what the Bible calls an idle, let's say,
a false God. See the deeper reason for our initition is really we
don't want God. I'm doing just fine, thank you very much. So
God, stay you created me, you made me. Yeah, Jesus came
and died for me. But I tell you what, God, you stay
on your side of the fence and I'll stay on mind. Thank you very
much. Well, there's only a problem with that. You miss the very
purpose of your life. You weren't made to be disconnected from God, and
you don't have any power in your life when you are disconnected from God.
I don't know how many of you lost power this week, but have you
noticed that when the power's off, all of your utilities, I mean,
all of your appliances are worthless. A disconnected coaster is worthless without power,
A disconnected blender is worthless without powers, just a piece of junk. A
vacuum cleaner is a piece of junk if there's no electricity to it. Those
things cannot fulfill their purpose unless they're plugged into the power. You cannot fulfill
your purpose unless you're plugged into the God who made you, who gives you
that power. So we run out of power. But the truth is,
it's human nature to wander. It's my nature to go forget you, God,
I'm gonna do my thing. I got my plants. In fact,
I think, God, I know what will make me happy better than you
do. And so we just kind of wander off. The Bible calls us.
It says, it's like we're like sheep. We just got a sheeper.
Naturally wanderers. The Bible says this, they're on your outline. We
are all like sheep. We've all want off. We've all gotten lost.
In other words, I don't know what I'm supposed to do next year.
Where am I coming from, Where am I going? What is the purpose
of my life? What am I supposed to do with my life? I'm
not direct that I'm drifting through life. We've all gotten lost, We've all
done our own thing, and we've all gone our own way. Now that's
the bad news. What's the good news is the good news is that if
I make Jesus, make room for Jesus in my life, an amazing number
of benefits take place. What are those benefits? Why should I make room
for Jesus in my life, even if it means clearing out some other stuff.
Well, let me just give you two reasons. I could give you
a lot of them. Let me just give you two that are very simple,
but they're very profound. Here's the first reason. First reason I should
make room for Jesus in my life is because I want to know my creator
and my savior. He made me and he saved me, so I need
to know that. I mean, if I said, hey, I'll introduce
you to Bono and you go, I don't really care. Well, it's
no big deal. If I said, let me introduce you to three or
four of the presidents, I know, well you said it was no big
deal. But if I were to say, let me introduce you to God.
He created you and has a purpose for your life, I would think
I'd want to be interested in that. He is my creator. I said,
I thought you're talking about meeting Jesus. I am. I thought God
made us. He did. Jesus is God come in human form. Look
at what the Bible says, before anything else existed, there was Christ with
God. He has always been alive. He didn't start at Bethlehem. Two
thy and ten years ago. He has always been inlive and is himself God.
He created everything there is that includes you and me. Nothing exists that
he didn't make. He made it all, so he owns it. All.
Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind.
It helps me see in the dark when I don't think I can see
any other way. So I definitely want to make room in my life for
Jesus Christ because he made me, and that would make life a whole lot
better. You know, Like they say, when in doubt, consult the
owner's manual. When in doubt, read the directions. That's the Bible.
When in doubt, talk to the inventor. God invented you, but he
didn't just create you. He saves you. And the reason He came at
Christmas is to die for all your sins. Let me explain this. We've
all messed up. I think that's pretty common knowledge. We've all I don't
measure up to my own standards, much less God's, and you don't either.
I don't know really anybody who's perfect. We've all sinned. We've all
made mistakes, false fumbles, flaws, bloopers, sins, rebellion, I
mean really, I've talked to thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people around
the world. I've never met anybody who claimed to be sinless. I've never
met anybody who saying I'm perfect. In fact, if you think you're perfect,
there's really only one solution for you. You need to get married.
Okay, that'll solve that, and really quick. Okay, okay, all
you needed is getting married, and you'll know you are not sinless. Okay.
Marriage doesn't create problems, it reveals them. Okay, and you are
the problem. And you know I always say, you know, before you
get married, opposite it's attract and then after you get married, opposites attack.
Now I want to not only know my creator, I want to know
my savior who came to die for my sins. Now, why, here's
the reason. Follow me on this. Heaven is a perfect place. No
sorrow, no sadness, no sickness. It's incredible, full color, amazing.
You think the world's cool, Heaven's unbelievable. Now Heaven is perfect.
I'm not, and by the way, neither are you. I stopped being
perfect about day two. So if God lets imperfect people into Heaven, is
not going to be a perfect place anymore. If God lets all of us
into heaven with all of our imperfections, Heaven's going to be no better earth
because we'll take with them our lust, our ego, our betrayals, our
rejections, murders, rapes. Heaven would be no better Earth. So God
had to come up with a plan be and he said, here's what I'll
do. I will come to earth at Christmas time. I'm going to send
my son, Jesus Christ, and he's going to live a perfect life in
your stead, in your place, and then he's gonna die for all your
sins, so you don't have to pay for him. They've all been paid
off. And then you get to go scot free into heaven by just trusting
him. What a deal. What a deal? And so the Bible says
this the most famous verse in the Bible. God so loved the world that's
you and me, that he gave his one and only son, that's Jesus,
that whoever believes in him, who's whoever involved everybody. I don't care
what your background is, I don't care what your age is, what your
ethnic group is, I don't care what your religion is. You may be
Baptist or Buddhist, or Methodist, or Muslim or Mormon or Hindu. You
may be atheist or agnostic or no religion at all, doesn't matter to me.
The Bible says, whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
everlasting life. That's a good deal. I get to become a part of
God's family, and that family is going to last forever. Jesus said it.
The Bible says it like this, John Chapter one. He Jesus came
into the world which belonged to him. Remember he made it so we all
belong to him anyway. But those who were his did not receive him,
no room and did not welcome him no room. But those who did receive
him and welcome him, come on into my room, Come into the rooms
of my heart, all rooms, bathroom, bedroom, living room. To
those who did receive him and welcome him, he gave the privilege and the
power to become the children of God. Because and here's how you become a
child of God. They believed in his name. And that way I become
a part of God's family, and God becomes my father. So wait a
minute, isn't God the father of everybody? No he is not God created
everybody. God loves everybody. God has a purpose for everybody. But God
is only the father of those who choose to become a part of His family
by meeting the family requirements, which are believe in the sun He sent at
Christmas. That's the condition. Now I not only get to be a part
of God's family, I get to know my creator and my Savior, which
is a big deal. But there are actually some benefits here and now,
right now, for the rest of your life here on earth. And the
second reason I want to open every room of my heart to Jesus is to
enjoy a life of purpose, peace and power. 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 groat
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.
Merry Christmas, everybody. Do you even know why we give Christmas gifts
to each other. It's because God gave the first Christmas gift, the gift
of his son. God has been using you and your generous support to literally
transform the lives of so many people who've never heard about the hope that we
have in Jesus Christ. We couldn't do any of this without you, without
your support, you know, I do this for free. I serve Daily
Hope for free. We're one hundred percent listener funded. And I want to
thank you for being obedient to God. When he tells you to give to
Daily Hope. You might not thank You've got a lot to give. It's
the regular giving, month after month after month that God multiplies, and thanks
to all of you, we are reaching more and more people with the good
news every day. So let me just say at this time of the year,
I want to appreciate your partnership in this ministry. Any success that we
have is because God is working through us together. Your prayers make a difference,
Your giving make a difference, and you telling other people about the program
makes a difference. Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Would
you continue to pray for me? I really need your prayers. Pray that
God will give me just the right words to say this next year, as
we go into a year of Daily Hope sharing the good news of Jesus Christ
with people all around the world, then let me know how you're doing.
Let me know how we can pray for you. We have a prayer team
here. It blesses me to hear from you, and so just write me
Rick at pastorick dot com. It's real simple, Rick at pastorick dot com.
Thanks for listening, Thanks for giving, thanks for sharing, and thanks
for caring. God bless you 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. You can give right
now by going to pastorig dot com or by calling eight hundred six hundred five
thousand four. We'll say thanks by sending you the brand new Daily Hope Prayer
Journal that's Pastorick dot com or by calling eight hundred six hundred five thousand 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 Ricks Daily Hope and
your generous financial support.