Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible
Speaker 1: teaching ministry of Rick Warren. You know, with Thanksgiving just
Speaker 1: around the corner, we're pausing our current series to bring
Speaker 1: you a special message from Pastor Rick, one that will
Speaker 1: help you reflect on God's goodness and grow a heart
Speaker 1: of gratitude. Okay, and now here's part two of a
Speaker 1: moving message called being thankful even in bad times.
Speaker 2: When tragedy strikes, when you hit the skids, when your
Speaker 2: life falls apart, when everything goes wrong, the typical thing
Speaker 2: we want to do is look for an explanation. That's dumb,
Speaker 2: because explanations never ever comfort. They don't really help you
Speaker 2: at all. I've told you many times that if my
Speaker 2: wife k were to drop dead tomorrow and I were
Speaker 2: to know the reason, it wouldn't make me any less sorrowful,
Speaker 2: any less in pain. And so don't waste time always
Speaker 2: trying to find out the why, why, why why? Because first,
Speaker 2: my brain isn't big enough to understand all that happens
Speaker 2: in the world, and neither is yours. It's like an
Speaker 2: aunt trying to understand the Internet. And there are a
Speaker 2: lot of things in your life you're just not gonna
Speaker 2: know why they happen until you get to heaven. Then
Speaker 2: it's all gonna make sense and you'll see it. What
Speaker 2: you need when you're going through a tough time is
Speaker 2: not an explanation. What you need is the presence of God.
Speaker 2: Court's going to come and talk about that in just
Speaker 2: a second. But one of the reasons that I can
Speaker 2: always be thankful even in my darkest days is the
Speaker 2: promise of Romans eight twenty eight. There in your outline.
Speaker 2: We know that in all things, not some, In all
Speaker 2: things God works. We know that in all things God
Speaker 2: works for the good. It doesn't say everything's good. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of bad in the world. We know that
Speaker 2: even in the bad, God works for the good for everybody.
Speaker 2: Know for those who love Him, who give him the
Speaker 2: pieces and have been called according to His purpose. And
Speaker 2: so I know that no matter what I go through,
Speaker 2: if I will give those pieces to God, God's going
Speaker 2: to bring good out of it. He loves to turn
Speaker 2: crucifixions into resurrections and then bless the whole world by it.
Speaker 2: Have you ever thought how God might want to bless
Speaker 2: the world through your pain. I can be thankful to
Speaker 2: God because I know, I'm always thankful for the grace
Speaker 2: God shows me, and I'm always thankful for the plans
Speaker 2: God has for me. Number three, I am always thankful,
Speaker 2: no matter what happens in my life, for God's promise
Speaker 2: to never leave me. God's promise to never leave me.
Speaker 2: In pastor Kurt's going to come and talk about that.
Speaker 3: I want you to think about this for just a second.
Speaker 3: This truth that there is not a moment in your
Speaker 3: life that God isn't with you. There's not a moment
Speaker 3: in your life that God isn't with you. Now, for
Speaker 3: some of us, that doesn't initially sound very good because
Speaker 3: it's actually a scare tactic of parents worldwide, right. I mean,
Speaker 3: we say that towards children. God's with you, he has
Speaker 3: his eyes on you, He's watching you, and that is
Speaker 3: actually based in a powerful, powerful truth. Look at what
Speaker 3: God says to us in Hebrews thirteen, verse five. God
Speaker 3: says this, I will never leave you, and I will
Speaker 3: never abandon you. God will never leave us, He will
Speaker 3: never abandon us. But here's the wonderful part of that promise.
Speaker 3: That scripture isn't there to coerce us into staying out
Speaker 3: of trouble. It's actually there to comfort us in times
Speaker 3: of trouble. What a difference that there is not a
Speaker 3: moment in your life, there's not a situation that you
Speaker 3: find yourself in. There's not a depth of experience, a
Speaker 3: sense of loss or loneliness that we can ever travel alone.
Speaker 3: God's always with us. He never ever leaves us. And
Speaker 3: there's no fine print. Sometimes when you read those verses
Speaker 3: and we say, okay, where's the catch, Where's the hook?
Speaker 3: Have you ever seen the commercials for drugs on television
Speaker 3: these days? You know there might be a thirty second
Speaker 3: drug commercial and about ten seconds is telling you the
Speaker 3: good side of the drug, what the drug will do
Speaker 3: for you, and then the next twenty seconds or all
Speaker 3: the fine print right, all the explanations, the side effects.
Speaker 3: There's no fine print in God's promise to always be
Speaker 3: with us. He will never ever, ever, never ever never
Speaker 3: leave us. Period. Look at this verse in Isaiah forty
Speaker 3: three too. It says this, when you go through deep waters,
Speaker 3: I will be with you. When you pass through rivers
Speaker 3: of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through
Speaker 3: the fire, you will not be burned up. It will
Speaker 3: not consume you. I'm not sure what deep waters you've
Speaker 3: gone through this year. I'm not through, not sure what
Speaker 3: fires you felt have consumed you. My hunch is a
Speaker 3: in a room this size, there's been a lot of loss,
Speaker 3: a lot of feelings of abandonment. Maybe there's been a
Speaker 3: husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a friend,
Speaker 3: a coworker there's walked out on you and you've felt abandoned,
Speaker 3: you felt alone. Maybe you've just gone through stuff as
Speaker 3: a family where you felt like, God, are you really
Speaker 3: with us now? Are we walking through this situation by ourselves?
Speaker 3: And the answer is a resounding no. God promises us
Speaker 3: that he'll never ever leave us. I'm not sure what
Speaker 3: has you worried this Thanksgiving, but one of the best
Speaker 3: ways for us to be thankful is to recognize God's
Speaker 3: promise to never leave us and to actually pray a
Speaker 3: prayer thanking God for his faithfulness. You see, we're talking
Speaker 3: about four different ways we can give thanks, and we
Speaker 3: said one of the ways we can give thanks is
Speaker 3: through singing. Another powerful way we give thanks, even in
Speaker 3: times where we're going through crisis and we're going through loss,
Speaker 3: is to pray a prayer of thanksgiving. And that's what
Speaker 3: I'd like to do. I'd like to just pray a
Speaker 3: prayer of thanks to God. So as I do that,
Speaker 3: here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you
Speaker 3: to think of a need you have of God today,
Speaker 3: a spot in your life where you're going.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: If I'm honest, God, I feel like you're not with
Speaker 3: me on this one. I feel like you've abandoned me.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 3: Let's pray together, Heavenly Father. As we head into Thanksgiving season,
Speaker 3: there's times where God, if we're honest, there's aspects and
Speaker 3: places in our lives that it's tough. It's tough to
Speaker 3: say thanks because God, we feel alone. Father. I'm not
Speaker 3: sure what those moments and what those areas are for
Speaker 3: my friends this morning, but God, I pray that they
Speaker 3: would sense your powerful presence in their lives. God, if
Speaker 3: they feel alone in a relationship, God, if they feel
Speaker 3: alone because things their plans for life have just begun
Speaker 3: to fall apart or unravel. Father, whatever it is in
Speaker 3: our life, whatever our need is this moment, Lord, I
Speaker 3: pray that right now we would Since You're powerful, loving
Speaker 3: and never wavering presence in our lives, in your name,
Speaker 3: we pray.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 3: Look at this verse in Philippian's four to six just
Speaker 3: as a reminder of the importance of prayer in our lives.
Speaker 3: As we give thanks it says this, don't be anxious
Speaker 3: or worried about every anything. Don't be anxious or worried
Speaker 3: about anything. Instead, pray about everything, always making your request
Speaker 3: known to God with thanksgiving. Do me a favor, just
Speaker 3: circle with thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: So that's the second way that we express our thanksgiving
Speaker 2: to God. The first is by singing, and the second
Speaker 2: is by praying. Now, no matter what happens in my life,
Speaker 2: I can always thank God for the grace that God
Speaker 2: shows me, for the plan that God has for me,
Speaker 2: and for the promise that He'll never leave me. Number four,
Speaker 2: I can always be thankful for the changes God is
Speaker 2: making in me. I can be grateful for the changes
Speaker 2: that God is making in me. And here's the good news.
Speaker 2: No matter what I go through, God will use it
Speaker 2: to change me for the better. That's part of the
Speaker 2: Romans eight twenty eight. He's working inside me. He's not
Speaker 2: just with me as Pastor Kurt talked about. He is
Speaker 2: actually in me, and inside me he's making change. Roman
Speaker 2: chapter five does this verse three and four. We can
Speaker 2: have joy even in our troubles, because we know that
Speaker 2: these troubles produce endurance, and endurance produces character, and character
Speaker 2: produces hope. So why does that make me joyful? Why
Speaker 2: is a God building character in my life such an
Speaker 2: important thing? Because it's the only thing you're taking with
Speaker 2: you to heaven is your character. You're not taking your career,
Speaker 2: you're not taking your reputation, you're not taking your money,
Speaker 2: you're not taking your hobbies. You're not taking your clothes
Speaker 2: or your china or your car, but you are taking
Speaker 2: your character. The only thing that's going to heaven is you.
Speaker 2: So you ought to be working more on you, because
Speaker 2: if you don't work on you, you're not taking much
Speaker 2: to heaven. You could spend your whole life acquiring things
Speaker 2: and building up a big stockpile of bizz ess on earth,
Speaker 2: none of it's going to heaven, and you could have
Speaker 2: all kinds of money and have a stunted soul that
Speaker 2: goes to heaven. Stunted is that what you want to
Speaker 2: live with for eternity. The only thing you're taking with
Speaker 2: you to heaven is your character. And God says this
Speaker 2: is so important. I will use everything, even the pain
Speaker 2: in your life, to build your character, to make you
Speaker 2: more patient, more loving, more secure, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness,
Speaker 2: making the self control. These are things God wants to
Speaker 2: build in your life. Here's the good news. While circumstances
Speaker 2: may be working against you, and while other people may
Speaker 2: be working against you, the good news, and I can
Speaker 2: be thankful for this. God is working in you. Look
Speaker 2: at the next verse Philippians two thirteen. For God is
Speaker 2: working in you, giving you the desire to obey Him
Speaker 2: and the power to do what pleases him. Anthians chapter
Speaker 2: three says, as the spirit of the Lord works within us,
Speaker 2: so I can be grateful with this, we become more
Speaker 2: and more like Him. That I can be grateful for
Speaker 2: that that God knows that even the bad stuff that
Speaker 2: happened in my life this year, He'll use it to
Speaker 2: make me more like Jesus. I can be thankful in
Speaker 2: that true confession. I'm not all I should be. I'm
Speaker 2: not all I should be, but thank God He's changing me.
Speaker 2: And if you don't like me right now, hang on,
Speaker 2: I'm getting better. Okay, I'm getting better. And by the
Speaker 2: grace of God, I can say three things, and you
Speaker 2: can say these three things too. By the grace of God,
Speaker 2: I'm not what I used to be. By the grace
Speaker 2: of God, I am what I am by the grace
Speaker 2: of God, I'm not what I'm going on be because
Speaker 2: He is working in me now. During that time when
Speaker 2: He's working on us and that pain comes in our lives,
Speaker 2: we often feel weak, and we often feel defeated. That's okay,
Speaker 2: That's when God's strength shows up best Tewod Corinthians twelve nine.
Speaker 2: But God said to me, my grace is all you
Speaker 2: need when you are weak. My power is made perfect
Speaker 2: in you. So Paul says, I'm happy to break about
Speaker 2: my weaknesses. Then christ power can live in me. You
Speaker 2: don't know God is all you need until God is
Speaker 2: all you got. And when you're out there and you
Speaker 2: have no emotional support, and you have no financial support,
Speaker 2: and you have no relational support, and you feel like
Speaker 2: I'm in this by myself and I'm up to my
Speaker 2: nose and I'm going under soon, I'm about ready to
Speaker 2: throw in the towel. It is at that point you
Speaker 2: don't know God that is all you need, until God's
Speaker 2: all youth you've got. Have you ever thanked God for this?
Speaker 2: The fact that while other people and circumstances are working
Speaker 2: against you, that God is working in you and for
Speaker 2: you to make you a better man, to make you
Speaker 2: a better woman. Let's stop and let's thank God about that. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the ways that God does this is causing
Speaker 2: us to remember the things He's taken us through. The
Speaker 2: Bible says in Psalm fifty twenty three, giving thanks is
Speaker 2: a sacrifice that truly honors me. Did you know that?
Speaker 2: The Bible says, would you pause to remember what God
Speaker 2: has done in your life? That it's almost like it?
Speaker 2: Not almost, he says, it is a sacrifice to God.
Speaker 2: He says, it honors me when you stop and say
Speaker 2: thank you. Have you done that for what He's done
Speaker 2: in your life this year in spite of all the
Speaker 2: bad things. Let me show you another verse. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: and so ninety seven, verse twelve, remember what your Holy
Speaker 2: God has done for you and give thanks to him. Now,
Speaker 2: that's a command we are commanded to remember. And this
Speaker 2: is the third way to give thanks at thanksgiving. I want,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, honor the Lord and worship him. Remember,
Speaker 2: remember all the great things He's done for you. Maybe
Speaker 2: it was a worship experience that you remember. Go Man,
Speaker 2: that was really moving to me and I took a
Speaker 2: major life turn in that. Or maybe it was a
Speaker 2: story from your small group or they showed up and
Speaker 2: supported you, or you had a good time of fellowship
Speaker 2: with your small group. Maybe you had a life changing
Speaker 2: experience on a missions trip or a peace trip or
Speaker 2: working in the peace center. Or maybe you had a
Speaker 2: friend who came to Christ. Maybe a lesson learned or
Speaker 2: personal change or personal growth a decision you made. So
Speaker 2: I want you to take a minute and write down
Speaker 2: a story, one a short story of something that you're
Speaker 2: thankful to God for being a part of our church
Speaker 2: family because of something that happened in your life. There's
Speaker 2: one more reason why I can be grateful for God
Speaker 2: no matter what happens in my life. And this year,
Speaker 2: this reason has meant the most to me. I could
Speaker 2: always be thankful for the home that God has prepared
Speaker 2: for me. I'm talking about Heaven. I could always be
Speaker 2: thankful no matter what I'm going through, no matter what
Speaker 2: pain I'm experiencing, that the pain is not going to last,
Speaker 2: that God has prepared a home for me in Heaven.
Speaker 2: I am grateful that this life is not all there is.
Speaker 2: If this life is all there is, I would be
Speaker 2: in ultimate despair. If this life is all there is,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be standing here right now. I am grateful
Speaker 2: that there's more to life than here and now. I
Speaker 2: am grateful that this mess is not the end of
Speaker 2: the story. I am grateful that one day God is
Speaker 2: going to settle the score. One day, God is going
Speaker 2: to balance the books. One day, God is going to
Speaker 2: even the odds. One day God is going to right
Speaker 2: the wrongs. And I see a lot of wrong in
Speaker 2: the world. One day God justice will be served. This
Speaker 2: is not the end of the story. And God is
Speaker 2: going to close the bank accounts and wrap it all up,
Speaker 2: and there is going to be a judgment day, and
Speaker 2: there is going to be a day of heaven.
Speaker 4: What a special message from Pastor Rick. And now let's
Speaker 4: hear how lives are changing through Daily Hope. Here's Rick
Speaker 4: with a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Today. I've got a quick note from a listener in Minneapolis.
Speaker 2: His name is Bill, and Bill wrote to me Rick,
Speaker 2: I want to let you know that I prayed with
Speaker 2: you this morning, accepting God into my life. Wow, that's great.
Speaker 2: Daily Hope has become the way that I start each
Speaker 2: day listening to your podcast. So much has changed in
Speaker 2: my life over the past year. I had a job loss,
Speaker 2: I had a transition, I had a divorce, my dad
Speaker 2: passed away, cancer, and my faith all in the same year.
Speaker 2: I'm so thankful for all that you do well. Bill,
Speaker 2: I want to tell you, I know you've been going
Speaker 2: through some really tough times this past year, but there's
Speaker 2: no greater news than hearing that you've accepted Jesus into
Speaker 2: your life. And the fact that God used a Daily
Speaker 2: Hope podcast to lead you to Him is such a blessing.
Speaker 2: And I want you to know that as you continue
Speaker 2: to study God's word every day, you're going to find
Speaker 2: that your faith is growing and you'll see God actively
Speaker 2: working in your life. And I really am as excited
Speaker 2: to think about what the next year is going to bring.
Speaker 2: Year two in your life will be very different than
Speaker 2: the last year. And to the rest of you, all
Speaker 2: of our Daily Hope listeners, I just want to thank
Speaker 2: you because we're able to provide the Daily Hope podcast
Speaker 2: to people like Bill because of your generous support. Thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: For helping us share the good news all around the world.
Speaker 2: We love you and imagine what it's going to be
Speaker 2: to get to heaven and see all these people who
Speaker 2: came to know Christ because of your giving. God bless you.
Speaker 4: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 4: into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 4: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.