WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:05.960 Hey, everyone, Welcome to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Hope. Now 2 00:00:05.960 --> 00:00:09.160 we're going to continue our series today called Building My 3 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:12.599 Life on Values that last, and Rick will press on 4 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.519 and show us how we benefit when we apply the 5 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:24.039 Biblical principles of trust, self control, balance, respect forgiveness, moral purity, fairness, honesty, 6 00:00:24.359 --> 00:00:27.120 and love to our lives. I don't know about you, 7 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:29.879 but I am so excited to hear what Rick shares 8 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.560 today with part one of a message called Accepting Responsibility. 9 00:00:34.920 --> 00:00:37.359 If I were to ask you today, what's your greatest ability, 10 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:40.960 I wonder what some of you would say. You might say, 11 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:43.399 you know, I'm good at mechanics, I'm good with math. 12 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:46.679 Some of you might say I'm good at sewing, or 13 00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:50.560 surfing or channel surfing. 14 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:54.439 But you say, well, I'm good at all of this. 15 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:57.880 But I want to suggest you this morning that your 16 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:04.359 greatest ability is responsibility. You say, huh, yeah, your greatest 17 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:12.359 ability is responsibility. Responsibility is the ability to respond to life. 18 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:15.040 It's one of the greatest gifts that God has given you. 19 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:19.120 God created you and made you a human being, and 20 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.599 what makes you a human is the ability to choose 21 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.560 your response to life, and so you can respond in 22 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:32.359 many different ways to stress, to problems, to crises, to opportunities, 23 00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:36.760 to relationships, and it's all your choice. A couple weeks ago, 24 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:39.000 we talked about how most of your life is out 25 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:41.599 of your control. You didn't choose where you were born 26 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:43.480 or when you were born, in all those different things, 27 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:46.560 and you don't choose a lot of the circumstances and 28 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:50.239 events that happened to you. But you do have the 29 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:53.480 freedom to choose how you react to life. You do 30 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:58.159 have the freedom to choose how you respond. And because 31 00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:02.640 you have that choice, because you have the freedom to 32 00:02:02.760 --> 00:02:08.199 respond and you are able to respond, you are response able. 33 00:02:09.159 --> 00:02:10.080 You're responsible. 34 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:15.360 Justice Lewis Brandeis, who was one of the Supreme Court justices, 35 00:02:15.439 --> 00:02:20.560 once said that responsibility is the great developer. It builds 36 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:23.879 your character, it's what helps you grow. Churchill called it 37 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:27.120 the price of greatness. If you want to do something 38 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.560 great with your life, you have to become a responsible person. 39 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:36.719 So today we're beginning a series on ten values on 40 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:40.319 which you build as pillars of your life, a successful 41 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:43.159 and a significant life. And we have to start with 42 00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:47.280 personal responsibility, because, folks, this is the foundation, this is 43 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.199 ground zero, this is the bottom line. If you don't 44 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:52.080 get this one, you may well forget the rest of 45 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:54.560 the series, because you can't build any of the other 46 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:58.840 values in your life if you don't personally accept responsibility 47 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:02.759 for your choices, your character, and your values. 48 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:05.520 This is what it all starts with. 49 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.280 If I get that point down, then the rest can 50 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:12.240 be built in a successful and a significant life. Now, 51 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:16.199 it's very obvious that in the last forty years there's 52 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:20.719 been a dramatic decline in the acceptance of personal responsibility 53 00:03:20.759 --> 00:03:25.360 in our society. Nobody wants to accept responsibility for anything anymore. 54 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.879 In fact, we want to accuse and excuse. We want 55 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.759 to accuse other people it's all their fault, and we 56 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.639 want to excuse ourselves it's not my fault. And we 57 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:39.719 live in this blaming and accusing and excusing society where 58 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:43.439 nobody wants to really own up to anything. Now, what 59 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.759 causes that? What's happened in our society? Well, last week 60 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:50.280 I said that our beliefs determine our behavior, and our 61 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:51.800 behavior determines what we. 62 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.479 Become and what our society becomes. 63 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:57.840 And so we talked about the ideas of individualism and 64 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:02.199 secularism and relativism and how that has influenced our value system. 65 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:05.719 There are three values that are very prevalent today, three 66 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:11.439 beliefs that are the antithesis of personal responsibility. I've written 67 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:13.039 them there on your outline. We just need to look 68 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:15.639 at them for a second. The first one is what 69 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.360 I call the rights mentality, the second is the victim mentality, 70 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:23.519 and the third is the entitlement mentality. Now, the rights 71 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:29.319 mentality basically goes like this, I have my rights, and 72 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:32.480 that's all I'm interested in my rights. Would you agree 73 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:37.800 that today our society is obsessed with personal rights. Listen 74 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:41.319 to this John Leo, talking in US News and World Report. 75 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:47.000 Today American politics is a wash in rights talk. We 76 00:04:47.079 --> 00:04:51.120 have criminal rights, computer rights, animal rights, children's rights. We 77 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:55.399 have victims rights, abortion rights, housing rights, privacy rights, the 78 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:57.800 right to know the sex of a fetus, the right 79 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:00.199 to not be tested for AIDS, and the rights to 80 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:01.959 not inform anybody. 81 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:02.839 If we have been infected. 82 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.439 Recently, we have acquired the right to die, and according 83 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:10.399 to some rather imaginative theorist, a damage fetus also has 84 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:14.319 a right not to be born. He says, our culture 85 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:17.839 has reached the point where the obsession with individual rights 86 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.360 is making it hard for us to think socially. And 87 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:24.920 he suggests that along with our bill of rights, that 88 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:29.279 we really need a bill of responsibilities. And I want 89 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:31.680 to say, John, we already have one. It's called the 90 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:34.480 Ten Commandments. That's what it is. 91 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:35.439 Now. 92 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.279 We hear a lot today about rights, and we don't 93 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:42.560 hear very much about responsibilities. We hear a lot about entitlements. 94 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.480 We don't hear much about obligations. We hear a lot 95 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.720 about myself, we don't hear much about what it does 96 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:50.920 to other people. And we certainly hear a whole lot 97 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:56.199 more about choice than we hear about commitment. So this morning, 98 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:59.560 I want us to look at this value of why 99 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:04.519 do I need to be a person of responsibility? Well, 100 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:08.000 first there's this rights mentality. The second we have called 101 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:11.360 what I call the victim mentality, And the victim mentality 102 00:06:11.399 --> 00:06:14.360 basically goes like this, none of my problems are my fault. 103 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.360 In fact, they're all your fault, and we blame. And 104 00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:22.759 you've heard me say many times you spell blame, be lame, 105 00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:27.639 and every time you blame somebody else for the unhappiness 106 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:30.399 in your life, you are being lame. Recently, there have 107 00:06:30.439 --> 00:06:32.240 been a number of books out on this. This one's 108 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:37.240 called a nation of victims, the decay of American culture, 109 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:42.519 and listen to this. Here's some examples. An FBI agent 110 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:46.079 embezzel's two thousand dollars from the government, and then he 111 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.639 loses it all in an afternoon of gambling in Atlantic City. 112 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:53.759 He's fired, but he wins reinstatement after court rules that 113 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:57.399 his affinity for gambling with other people's money is quote 114 00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:03.920 a handicap, and thus as a handicap, it is protected 115 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:10.839 under federal law. There's another fired for consistently showing up 116 00:07:10.920 --> 00:07:15.319 late at work. A former school district employee sues former employers, 117 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.040 arguing that he is the victim of what his lawyer 118 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.800 calls quote chronic lateness syndrome. 119 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.600 I'm a victim. 120 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:29.800 In Framingham, Massachusetts, a young man steals a car from 121 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.800 a parking lot and is killed while driving it. His 122 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:36.079 family then sues the proprietor of the parking lot for 123 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:39.160 failing to take steps to prevent such thefts. 124 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:43.319 It's your fault. It's your fault that I stole a car. 125 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:48.040 A man who, by his own admission, has exposed himself 126 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:52.639 between ten thousand and twenty thousand times and been convicted 127 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:57.000 of flashing on more than thirty occasions, is turned down 128 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:03.360 for a job as a park attendant in Dane County, 129 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:07.920 Wisconsin and because of his arrest record, but he sues 130 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:12.399 on the grounds that he never exposed himself in a park, 131 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:21.720 only in libraries and laundromats. Now, the Wisconsin employment officials, 132 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:25.639 ever accommodating to the expansion of human rights, agreed to 133 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:29.120 make an initial determination of probable cause that the flasher 134 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:32.960 was the victim of quote illegal job discrimination. 135 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:37.440 We are a nation of victims. 136 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.320 None of it's my fault, it's everybody else's fault, and 137 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:45.600 I have my rights. And then comes the third antithesis 138 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:50.840 to personal responsibility, and that's what I call the entitlement mentality. 139 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:54.360 And the entitlement mentality basically says I deserve it. The 140 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:57.759 world owes me a living. And this is a kind 141 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:01.159 of a strange combination that came about from a generation 142 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:04.879 of baby boomers who were all raised seventy six million 143 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:07.759 of them on the most second most popular book ever sold. 144 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:11.320 And in that book, it basically says, leave the little 145 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:15.559 tyrant alone. If he wants to throw jello around the 146 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:19.159 living room, go ahead. You don't want to harm his creativity, 147 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:23.039 and so a whole generation grew up not thinking I 148 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:26.080 am my brother's keeper. They're not even thinking I'm my 149 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.639 own keeper. It's you ought to take care of me. 150 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.440 And you couple that with the rapid expansion of government 151 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:35.320 intervention in the last forty years, which basically says we'll 152 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.960 take care of you from cradle to grave. And we 153 00:09:38.039 --> 00:09:40.440 have people saying I have a right not to work, 154 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:43.080 and so therefore you should pay me to not work. 155 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:50.080 This is produced what Time magazine calls busy bodies and 156 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:55.759 cry babies. What's happening to the American character? And inside? 157 00:09:55.759 --> 00:09:59.480 It says? A cover article says a nation of finger pointers. 158 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.840 It says twin malformations are cropping up an American character, 159 00:10:04.519 --> 00:10:08.440 a nasty intolerance, and a desire to blame everyone else 160 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:13.480 for everything else. Now that's the kind of world we 161 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:16.120 live in. It says, I'm not responsible for anything. It's 162 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:21.840 not my fault. In start contrast to that, notice what 163 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:26.840 the Bible says, They're on your outline Ephesians chapter five. 164 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:31.039 Let's read this aloud together, live life with a sense 165 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:34.919 of responsibility, not as those who do not know the 166 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:38.120 meaning of life, but as those who do now circle 167 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:41.440 sense of responsibility. God says, you are to live your 168 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:44.039 life with a sense of responsibility. But more important than that, 169 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:48.000 I want you to notice, he says. The reason, he says, 170 00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:51.200 because you know the meaning of life. And the point 171 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.759 of this verse is this. If you live your life 172 00:10:54.840 --> 00:10:58.480 in a responsible way, it means you probably know the 173 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:01.480 meaning of life. You figured it out. Why did God 174 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:04.440 put me here? On the other hand, if you are 175 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:09.559 living an irresponsible life, it just means one thing, you 176 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:11.720 don't know the meaning of life. 177 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:12.840 You don't know your purpose. 178 00:11:13.799 --> 00:11:15.879 You don't know why God puts you on this planet 179 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:20.240 in the first place. Therefore, the key to living a 180 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:23.799 more responsible life is to figure out why am I here? 181 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:28.679 What did God put me on this earth for? So, 182 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:31.000 the first thing we have to deal with is why 183 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:34.240 should I live a responsible life? 184 00:11:34.360 --> 00:11:36.600 There are three reasons. You might write these down. 185 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:39.879 The first reason I need to learn to live a 186 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:46.519 responsible life is because God is watching me. Because God 187 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:52.279 is watching me, the Bible says this in the Book 188 00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:56.120 of Hebrews. Nothing in all the world can be hidden 189 00:11:56.120 --> 00:12:01.320 from God. Everything is open before him and to him. 190 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:06.639 We must explain the way we have lived. He says, 191 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:09.559 God sees it all, and God is going to judge 192 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.679 us one day and evaluate our lives on how did 193 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:13.120 we live? 194 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.840 Now, If you don't get anything else that I say. 195 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:22.720 This morning, get this life is a test of responsibility. 196 00:12:23.639 --> 00:12:26.720 That's why you're going through all this. God puts you on, 197 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:29.000 He plans you thought you up, puts you on earth, 198 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:33.480 and He is testing your responsibility. And if you've been 199 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.799 around at saddleback for any length of time, this is 200 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.919 all material. We've gone over this before that whether you 201 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:42.759 live sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety or one hundred years, that's 202 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:45.679 just a little millimeter on the yardstick of eternity. 203 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:48.919 When you die, that's not the end of you. 204 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:51.440 You're going to live on for eternity one of two places, 205 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:56.960 Heaven or Hell. And how you do, what you do 206 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.960 with your life and the decisions you make here are 207 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:01.679 going to influence your return and you will spend far 208 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:05.639 more time on that side of death and on this side. Now, 209 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:08.320 what's going on in this fifty to one hundred years 210 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.240 that I live here on Earth. Well, as I've said before, 211 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:14.879 this is the warm up act for eternity. This is 212 00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:19.000 the dress rehearsal. This is where you get the parts right, folks. 213 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:24.600 Right now you're in preschool. You're in preschool, and God 214 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:28.440 is testing your responsibility for what's going to happen later on. 215 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:33.440 And God puts you on this earth primarily for two reasons. 216 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:37.240 One to get to know him personally through his son 217 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:43.519 Jesus Christ, and two to develop character, to become more 218 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:47.360 like God the way God is in character, to develop 219 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.840 the values and the responsibility behind all of that. And 220 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:53.279 that's the foundation. If you're not responsible, you can't build 221 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:57.559 the values. Now, why is God interested in my character? 222 00:13:58.279 --> 00:14:02.639 God couldn't care less about your achievements. What he's interested 223 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:06.000 in is your character. God couldn't care much less about 224 00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:09.279 your bank account. What he's interested in is your character. 225 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:12.679 Why. Because it's the only thing you're gonna take with 226 00:14:12.840 --> 00:14:13.720 you when you die. 227 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.159 You're not taking anything else. You didn't come into this 228 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.159 world with anything. I've been there in the birth of 229 00:14:22.200 --> 00:14:23.840 all three of my kids. None of them came in 230 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.720 chomping a cigar, holding the Cadillac or anything else. They 231 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.000 came in totally naked, with nothing. And you know what, 232 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.879 when you die, you're gonna die and leave it all behind. 233 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:37.279 So everything you have here, all your material possessions are 234 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:40.799 really just on loan to you for sixty eighty ninety years. 235 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:42.720 They're not really yours. You just get to use them, 236 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:46.159 then you pass them on to somebody else. But the 237 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:48.960 one thing you will take with you is your character. 238 00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:53.559 And God is evaluating are you responsible? And the Bible 239 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:57.639 says that in eternity that we will be rewarded accordingly 240 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:02.799 to our responsibility and our relationship to Christ here on earth. 241 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:05.960 Once you've settled that issue of yes, I know God, 242 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:07.559 and I know a son Christ, and I am a 243 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.360 follower of him, then the issue becomes what did you 244 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:12.600 do with what I gave you? God has made an 245 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.919 investment in you when he created you. He gave you talents, 246 00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:18.440 he gave you abilities, he let you live in this 247 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.279 particular time in history. He's given you certain opportunities. These 248 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:25.240 are all things He's given you, and he expects a 249 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:30.840 return on his investment. Notice what the Bible says, each 250 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:34.080 of us will have to give a personal account to God. 251 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:36.399 That means nobody's going to do it for you. Your 252 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:39.080 wife can't do it for you, the pastor can't do 253 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.559 it for you. You will give a personal account. And 254 00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:44.679 I want to tell you that one day God is 255 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:49.279 going to do an audit on you. Not on your finances, 256 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.320 but God's going to do an audit on your life, 257 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.080 and he's going to say, what did you do with 258 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:59.519 what I gave you? Were you responsible? Did you use 259 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:03.480 your time, your money, your influence, your mind? 260 00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:05.080 Did you use your. 261 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:09.080 Relationships, your opportunities, and all of the things that I 262 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:09.679 gave you. 263 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:12.639 Did you use them wisely? Or did you just use 264 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:13.600 them selfishly? 265 00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:18.240 That's reason enough, folks, if there were no other reason 266 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.240 for being responsible. It's the fact that one day I 267 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:24.240 am going to be accountable to God for how responsible 268 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:28.759 I lived my life. Daniel Webster once said, I'm the 269 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:33.159 most important idea I ever thought was when I realized 270 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:38.080 the day I realized that I am personally and individually 271 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:43.159 accountable to God for how I lived. Now, notice it 272 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.960 says here God knows everything, nothing is hidden. That means 273 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:51.039 He's seen everything you've ever done. It's interesting because when 274 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:53.919 we rationalize our irresponsibility, one of the ways we do 275 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:58.159 it is nobody will ever know. Nobody will ever know, 276 00:16:58.240 --> 00:16:59.960 so I, you know, I can throw this trash down, 277 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:02.960 nobody ever knows, so I can steal this stuff nobody 278 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.400 will ever know. So I can read this material or 279 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:09.160 on and on and on, but God knows, and he's 280 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:11.839 the only one that really matters. You may be able 281 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:14.160 to fool everybody in this room, your family, your boss, 282 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:17.279 and everybody else, but that doesn't matter who you're living. 283 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:21.400 The responsibility for the responsible life for is God and 284 00:17:21.480 --> 00:17:27.039 he sees it all. So that's the first reason, and 285 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.680 that's enough. But there are two other reasons you need 286 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:34.039 to live a responsible life. Number two, because others are 287 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:39.200 affected by my life. Because other people are affected by 288 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:43.000 my life. You see, none of us lives to ourselves alone. 289 00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:48.279 We are all interdependent. We're not independent, we're not dependent, 290 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:52.480 but we are interdependent on each other. First, Corinthians tells 291 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:55.440 us in the Bible people should be concerned about others 292 00:17:56.279 --> 00:18:00.279 and not just about themselves. Now, back in the sixties, 293 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:03.440 during the kind of the hippie movement, and I lived 294 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:06.599 up in the Bay Area, and then I lived north 295 00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:08.920 of it too, and there used to be these beautiful 296 00:18:08.920 --> 00:18:12.720 Peter Max psychedelic posters, some of you remember these, And 297 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:15.400 one of them kind of had a sixties mantra on 298 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.799 it that went kind of like this. It said, I 299 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:22.359 was not put on this planet to live up to 300 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:27.319 your expectations, and you were not put on this planet 301 00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:31.960 to live up to my expectations. So let me do 302 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:36.160 my thing and you do your thing, and if perchance 303 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:39.000 we happened to meet, that's groovy. 304 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:42.079 You. 305 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:45.519 Now we don't say it in such a corny way anymore, 306 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:48.680 but the attitude is still around and it goes like this. 307 00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:51.880 It's in Billy Joel's songs. I don't care what they say. 308 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:53.240 This is my life. 309 00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:57.880 Or is that great theologian Sammy Davis Junior said, I 310 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:02.599 Gotta be me or its theological partner Sinatra, I did 311 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:07.160 it my way, And the basic idea behind these type 312 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.200 of songs are I live my life the way I 313 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:11.839 want to, And what's it to you? 314 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:13.519 Because if it. 315 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:15.680 Hadn't hurt you, or if you don't know about it, 316 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:20.599 who cares? It's my life and it really doesn't matter 317 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:23.720 what I do because it doesn't affect you. The problem 318 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:30.960 is you're wrong. You're wrong. Every decision you make affects 319 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:37.240 somebody else, even the secret ones, even the secret ones, 320 00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:43.119 because it changes you, and you then influence other people 321 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:46.559 by the changes in your life. You may not see 322 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:52.559 the visible results, but every choice you make influences somebody else, 323 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.079 and every time you're irresponsible, it hurts somebody else. 324 00:19:58.200 --> 00:19:59.920 Because we're all on this same planet. 325 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:04.039 When somebody in your family has a problem, it's not 326 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:08.599 their problem, it's the family's problem because it influences everybody 327 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:11.160 in their family, one kid, whether the kids on drugs 328 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:14.799 or the dad's under stress. Believe me, it affects everybody 329 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:21.279 in the family. There is no such thing as a 330 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:27.240 non affecting decision. You all the time with your life 331 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:33.279 influence your family, parents, kids, brothers, sisters, moms, dad's, husband's wives. 332 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:38.839 The choices you make influence your friends. They influence the 333 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:44.559 people in your neighborhood, They influence friends at church, They 334 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:49.240 influence society at large in major and minor ways. But 335 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.640 we are all interconnected because we're on this planet together. 336 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:56.960 I mean, if I were to ask five of you 337 00:20:57.000 --> 00:20:59.039 to say, hey, are four of you volunteer to go 338 00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:01.799 with me after service today, Let's go over to Lake 339 00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:04.799 Mission Viejoll And I've got a rowboat over there, and 340 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:06.400 we're gonna go out and catch some rays. Well, just 341 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.680 row out in the middle of the lake and just 342 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:09.759 relax for a while. So I get four of you 343 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:11.240 to go with me. We got an eight foot boat. 344 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:12.599 We get over there and I say, okay, now, each 345 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.720 of you, here is your foot and a half space. 346 00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:18.920 Here's your space. Here's your space. Here's your foot and 347 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:20.599 a half, here's your foot and half. This is my 348 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:21.559 space over here. 349 00:21:21.799 --> 00:21:22.160 Okay. 350 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.440 So we go out. We row out into the middle 351 00:21:24.440 --> 00:21:26.359 of the lake. We're out there, relaxing, getting a tan. 352 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:30.319 Twenty minutes into the boat trip, I pull out a 353 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:34.920 wood drill and start drilling a hole in the bottom 354 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:39.319 of the boat in my space. You say, what are 355 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:46.480 you doing, Rick, And I say, I'm drilling a hole. 356 00:21:49.880 --> 00:21:52.640 You say, why what are you doing? You can't do that. 357 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:56.599 I said, don't worry about it. It's my life. This 358 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:57.759 is my space. 359 00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:02.640 I'm not drilling it on your You got your own space. 360 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:04.319 You want to drill a whole, fine, you don't want 361 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:06.279 to drill a home five. What's good for you is fine, 362 00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:08.599 But what's good for me is fine. And I'm gonna drill. 363 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:12.720 I want to drill a hole in my space. You say, 364 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:13.720 you don't understand something. 365 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:14.000 Rick. 366 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:18.720 We're all in the same boat, and if the boat 367 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:23.839 goes down, we're all going down with it. And that's 368 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.000 why it's totally irresponsible to say I can live any 369 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:30.279 lifestyle I want. It doesn't matter to you. It does 370 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:34.039 matter to me because it affects me and it affects 371 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:39.319 other people around. And the Bible teaches we affect other 372 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.279 people by our lives. Now, see, it's interesting that when 373 00:22:43.319 --> 00:22:47.759 we are irresponsible, the two most common excuses rationalizations we 374 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.920 give are number one, nobody will know about it, and 375 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:53.200 number two, it won't hurt anybody. 376 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:55.000 And you're wrong on both accounts. You're wrong. 377 00:22:57.079 --> 00:22:58.839 A man can say, oh, I can get away with 378 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:03.000 this because my wife'll never know. I can do this 379 00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:05.960 and it won't hurt my wife, and kids can say 380 00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:07.519 oh I can do this, it won't hurt my parents, 381 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:11.119 and employees say, you know, I can do this because 382 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:14.960 it's a big company. It won't hurt anybody, And you're wrong. 383 00:23:16.359 --> 00:23:18.839 So you need to be responsible because God is watching 384 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.480 and because other people are affected. But there's a third reason, 385 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:24.440 and this is even a positive point here, and that 386 00:23:24.599 --> 00:23:27.640 is I need to be responsible because God rewards it, 387 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:34.279 and boy does he reward it. Deuteronomy twenty eight, verse 388 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:39.200 two says this in the Bible, you will experience all 389 00:23:39.400 --> 00:23:43.799 of God's blessings. If you obey the Lord circle that 390 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:48.200 word all, God says, you will not believe what I 391 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.599 will pour out on your life. If you will live 392 00:23:50.680 --> 00:23:54.640 responsibly with your time, with your money, with your relationships, 393 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.720 with your every area of your life, I will bless 394 00:23:57.759 --> 00:24:02.000 you in ways you cannot even imagine. One of the 395 00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:05.400 ways that God rewards us when we are responsible is 396 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:10.440 he gives us greater responsibility. The next verse, Jesus says, 397 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:15.079 to those who use well what they are given, even 398 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:20.880 more will be given. And so if you use your influence, 399 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:25.640 well guess what. You become more influential. And if you 400 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:29.240 use your possessions, well, guess what. God will provide more 401 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.240