Speaker 1: In our hard driving, ego driven, market driven culture, you
Speaker 1: don't hear a whole lot about gentleness. And the reason
Speaker 1: why is we don't understand what it really means to
Speaker 1: be gentle. We think gentleness means weakness, and God says
Speaker 1: absolutely not. The gentle are the strongest people on the planet,
Speaker 1: and the earth will be theirs. It's the weak people
Speaker 1: who are arrogant. It's the weak people who are prideful.
Speaker 1: It's the weak people who are pushy and rude and
Speaker 1: mean and gossip. Those are weak people, he said. The
Speaker 1: truly strong people in life are the gentle, and the
Speaker 1: world will be theirs. Now, I want you to write
Speaker 1: down a definition. This is not the first fill in,
Speaker 1: so don't put it on that line. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: to write at some paint or else on the outline.
Speaker 1: Let me give you a true definition of gentleness. It's
Speaker 1: here on the screen. Gentleness is strength under control. Gentleness,
Speaker 1: the Bible teaches real gentleness is not weakness, but rather
Speaker 1: it's strength under control. A gentle person does not over react.
Speaker 1: A gentle person is not driven by their own emotions.
Speaker 1: A gentle person is not someone who just is so
Speaker 1: moody and anything can let them fly off the handle.
Speaker 1: Gentleman person is strength under control. The Greek word in
Speaker 1: the Bible for gentleness is the word pratase pratase in
Speaker 1: the old translations of the Bible. In English, it is
Speaker 1: translated as the word meek meek. Now nobody uses that
Speaker 1: word anymore because meek has become a synonym for weak,
Speaker 1: and gentleness or pratase is anything but weak. In fact,
Speaker 1: the word pradase or gentleness in the Bible was actually
Speaker 1: used to refer to a wild stallion that had been tamed.
Speaker 1: If you go out into the fields or in the
Speaker 1: hills and you find a wild stallion who's strong and unbridled,
Speaker 1: and they have enormous strength, and they could kick you
Speaker 1: and kill you pretty quickly. But if you bring that
Speaker 1: stallion back and you tame it, then the strength is
Speaker 1: brought under control. The strength is bottled up for the
Speaker 1: master's use, and now it's useful. A tamed horse is
Speaker 1: no less strong than a wild horse. It has just
Speaker 1: as much strength, it can go just as fast. But
Speaker 1: a tamed horse, a proud taste horse, a meek horse,
Speaker 1: a gentle horse is one that it is strength under control.
Speaker 1: It is bottled up for the Master's use. And when
Speaker 1: you learn true gentleness as a man of God, when
Speaker 1: you learn true gentleness as a woman of God God,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean you're weak. It doesn't mean you're a doormat.
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you're any of those things that you
Speaker 1: might think meekness or gentleness means. It means you're not overreacting,
Speaker 1: you're in control of your emotions and you have strength
Speaker 1: under control. When people look at you, and non believers
Speaker 1: are watching you all the time, and they're watching to see,
Speaker 1: are you any different than they are when you're understressed?
Speaker 1: Are you any different than they are when you are
Speaker 1: under pressure? When you respond to pressure with gentleness, that
Speaker 1: is an incredible testimony to the world. Here's what the
Speaker 1: Bible says Titus three to two. Believers should never speak
Speaker 1: evil of anyone. Circle that. If you're a believer, not
Speaker 1: only am I as a pastor not to do that.
Speaker 1: You're not to do that. Believers should never speak evil
Speaker 1: of anyone. That means you can't disagree with them. No,
Speaker 1: of course, you can disagree with people, you just can't
Speaker 1: speak evil of them. You can't malign them, you can't
Speaker 1: slander them. You can't do personal attacks against them. Not
Speaker 1: if you claim to be a follower of Jesus, you can't.
Speaker 1: Believers should never speak evil of anyone, even the people
Speaker 1: who hurt you, even the people who hurt you, Nor
Speaker 1: be quarrelsome. You're not allowed to be quarrelsome. Instead, they
Speaker 1: should be gentle and show courtesy to everyone. Circle be
Speaker 1: gentle and show courtesy you. If you claim to be
Speaker 1: a follower of Jesus, you are not allowed to speak
Speaker 1: evil of anyone. You are not allowed to be quarrelsome. Instead,
Speaker 1: you must be gentle with everybody, and you must show
Speaker 1: courtesy to everybody. That means even people of a different
Speaker 1: political party. Yes, you know, God gave me the gift
Speaker 1: of evangelism, which means I spend most of my time
Speaker 1: when I'm not at saddleback speaking to people I totally
Speaker 1: disagree with. I disagree with what they believe, or I
Speaker 1: disagree with their lifestyle, or I disagree with their concept
Speaker 1: or whatever. But my definition of evangelism is you cannot
Speaker 1: win your enemies to Christ. You can only win your
Speaker 1: friends and to me, evangelism as you build a bridge
Speaker 1: of love between your heart and theirs and Jesus walks across. Now,
Speaker 1: people aren't going to trust Jesus till first they trust you.
Speaker 1: People don't ask me is the Bible credible? They want
Speaker 1: to know. Are you credible? Rick Warren? Are you credible?
Speaker 1: Are you exactly what you appear to be? Are you
Speaker 1: the real deal? Do you live with integrity? Are you gentle?
Speaker 1: Are you loving? Are you compassionate? If people like what
Speaker 1: they see, they will listen to what you say the
Speaker 1: first they got to like what they see. Gentleness is
Speaker 1: a witness to unbeliever. We are to be gentle and
Speaker 1: show courtesy to everyone. Now, let me just tell you something.
Speaker 1: I know this from experience. If you actually obey this verse,
Speaker 1: you're going to be criticized by other Christians because they're
Speaker 1: going to tell you. They're going to say you're compromising.
Speaker 1: You see when I say I have friends who are Muslims,
Speaker 1: and I have friends who are atheists, and I have
Speaker 1: friends who are gay, and I have friends who are secularists,
Speaker 1: and I have friends who are Mormon, and I have
Speaker 1: friends who are you can name it, Democrats, Republicans and
Speaker 1: in between. How could you do that? And they accuse
Speaker 1: you of being compromising? No, you don't compromise what you believe.
Speaker 1: You just treat everybody with respect. You treat everybody with courtesy,
Speaker 1: whether you agree with them or not. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: And you are to do that. If you do, there
Speaker 1: will be people say, hey, hey, you can't be nice
Speaker 1: to those liberal people. Well why not because then you're
Speaker 1: a liberal. Or you can't be nice to those conservatives.
Speaker 1: Why because then you're a conservative. You've heard me say
Speaker 1: this many times before. People ask me, are you left wing?
Speaker 1: A right wing? I say, I'm for the whole bird? Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm actually for America. Have you ever seen a bird
Speaker 1: fly with one wing? If you only have one wing,
Speaker 1: you fly around in the circle. It actually takes both wings.
Speaker 1: Nobody gets it right all the time. Independence don't get
Speaker 1: it right all the time. Democrats don't get it right
Speaker 1: all the time. Republicans don't get it right all the time.
Speaker 1: I have friends who are Republicans, I have friends who
Speaker 1: are Democrats. I'm for my friends. Why, That's what Jesus
Speaker 1: would do, Because there's something more than politics that's important,
Speaker 1: and it is do they know Jesus? And that's what
Speaker 1: we are to do. Gentleness is a witness to believe unbelievers.
Speaker 1: Look at this verse one Peter three point fifteen. Always
Speaker 1: be prepared to give he's talking about witnessing to an unbeliever.
Speaker 1: Always be prepared to give an answer to everybody who
Speaker 1: asks you to give the reason for the hope that
Speaker 1: you have. But he says, do this with gentleness and
Speaker 1: what respect. No matter what they believe, and no matter
Speaker 1: how they act, and no matter how ungodly they are,
Speaker 1: you are to do it with gentleness and respect. In
Speaker 1: other words, you don't go out thumping bibles on people
Speaker 1: saying turn or burn, you're gonna die and fry while
Speaker 1: we go to the sky. That doesn't work. That doesn't work.
Speaker 1: Gentleness witnesses to unbelievers. Number eight. Gentleness makes me like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Gentleness makes me like Jesus. And this is the biggest
Speaker 1: one of all. That's why I saved it for last.
Speaker 1: In Matthew chapter eleven, verse twenty eight, twenty nine, it says,
Speaker 1: if you want to be like Jesus, you want to
Speaker 1: be a godly woman, a godly man, you're going to
Speaker 1: have to learn gentleness. Jesus says in Matthew eleven, come
Speaker 1: to me. Come to me, all you who are weary,
Speaker 1: and you're burdened, you're stressed out. And he says, I
Speaker 1: will give you more work to do now, and then
Speaker 1: say I will give you what rest? Yeah, Then he says,
Speaker 1: take my yoke on you and learn from me, for
Speaker 1: I am gentle, circle that God says. Jesus says, I
Speaker 1: am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
Speaker 1: rest for your souls now. Question number one. Doesn't this
Speaker 1: mean that if I want to be like Jesus, I've
Speaker 1: got to learn to be gentle? Yes? Question number two.
Speaker 1: Is it possible that the stress you're feeling in your
Speaker 1: life and the pressure you're feeling in your life is
Speaker 1: because you are not gentle? Yes? Because the Bible says
Speaker 1: the more gentle you become, the more christ Like you become,
Speaker 1: and the more at peace you become, and the more
Speaker 1: at rest you become. The reason why you're stressed out
Speaker 1: all the time, why you're tired all the time, while
Speaker 1: you feel pressured all the time, is because you are
Speaker 1: not gentle. He says, I'm gentle, and if you come
Speaker 1: get with me, I'm gonna give you rest and peace,
Speaker 1: not stress and pressure. He said, Oh man, I want that.
Speaker 1: I want to be at peace. I want to be
Speaker 1: like Jesus. I don't be stressed out all the time.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna go out and tomorrow I'm gonna
Speaker 1: force myself to be gentle. So you get up in
Speaker 1: the morning, you go and how are you today? And
Speaker 1: you oh, just fine? Thank you? And you how are
Speaker 1: you to No, no, no, that you can't fake gentleness.
Speaker 1: You can't manipulate gentleness. You can't manufacture gentleness. It's got
Speaker 1: to be an inside job. God has to produce it
Speaker 1: inside you. Look of the next verse. The fruit of
Speaker 1: the spirit is what gentleness. It is God's spirit producing
Speaker 1: it in you. You can't fake gentleness because inside you're
Speaker 1: gonna still be understress. It is something that God does
Speaker 1: to you. There is a prayer that I've prayed now
Speaker 1: for over thirty years. I've prayed it almost every day.
Speaker 1: And as I walk out and I see people, and
Speaker 1: I saw walk down on the patterer and say, Lord, help
Speaker 1: me to treat people the way Jesus would. Why Because
Speaker 1: I am not by nature a gentle person. I'm not.
Speaker 1: And you know what, neither are you? You are not
Speaker 1: by nature a gentle person. You have to learn it,
Speaker 1: and you have to let God produce it in your life.
Speaker 1: God help me to treat everybody I meet with like
Speaker 1: Jesus today, not rude, not crude, not in civil in
Speaker 1: all of those ways. Hi, everybody, I'm Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,
Speaker 1: just a handful of people in our living room. I
Speaker 1: also began writing a simple devotional just for the people
Speaker 1: in our church to help them start each day with
Speaker 1: hope and with truth and with peace that comes from
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Well, you know that little devotional grew and
Speaker 1: grew and grew in Today, Daily Hope is one of
Speaker 1: the largest email devotions in the whole world, and each
Speaker 1: day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's
Speaker 1: promises and finding fresh strength in his word to face
Speaker 1: whatever comes their way. Here's the best part. It's absolutely free. Okay,
Speaker 1: we don't have any charge for this. Every day you'll
Speaker 1: get a quick devotional read and a podcast that you
Speaker 1: can listen to on the go. Now, you know, in
Speaker 1: a world it's more distracted and uncertain than ever, I
Speaker 1: want to help you start your day centered on what
Speaker 1: never changes, and what never changes is a God's love
Speaker 1: is unconditional love for you and his promises to you.
Speaker 1: You know, if you'll just spend just a few minutes
Speaker 1: a day in the morning with the Lord, it can
Speaker 1: bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more peace to
Speaker 1: everything that happens in your day. Particularly, a psychologist has
Speaker 1: said that what you do with the first five minutes
Speaker 1: of your day pretty much sets the tone. So, friend,
Speaker 1: you were never meant to go through life alone. I
Speaker 1: want to personally invite you to just sign up for
Speaker 1: the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God,
Speaker 1: God bless you. Would you like to sign up for
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's email devotional. I know you'll love it. You
Speaker 1: can just scan the QR code or go to dailyhopetv
Speaker 1: dot com. Now let me wrap this up. Who could
Speaker 1: you practice gentleness with this week? A let's just get
Speaker 1: down and dirty, really practical. I'm going to give you
Speaker 1: three statements. Just write these down. They're not on your outline.
Speaker 1: Here's three things I want you to practice gentleness this
Speaker 1: week with three different kinds of people. Okay, so write
Speaker 1: these down. Number one. This next week, here's the first
Speaker 1: sentence when someone serves me, be understanding, not demanding. When
Speaker 1: someone serves me, be understanding, not demanding. That's what gentleness is,
Speaker 1: strength under control. Why aren't you talking about Rick. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about waitresses when they serve you, clerks and stores
Speaker 1: when they serve you, a secretary or a government official
Speaker 1: or a clerk or employees. If you work, people work
Speaker 1: for you. Are people in fast food? You know? A
Speaker 1: while back, I went into McDonald's ordering my Daniel Plan,
Speaker 1: just seeing if you'd catch that or not. And I'm
Speaker 1: standing in line, and there was this young girl, very flustered.
Speaker 1: As obvious she was a trainee at McDonald's. She was
Speaker 1: just like in her first day or first couple of days,
Speaker 1: and she was pressured, and there was a long line,
Speaker 1: and she was making a lot of mistakes. And the
Speaker 1: more she made mistakes, the more people got upset and
Speaker 1: they were not understand they were demanding, and the more demanding,
Speaker 1: the more pressure she felt. And I thought she was
Speaker 1: going to burst into tears. And when I came up
Speaker 1: to get my Daniel Plan meal, I looked at her
Speaker 1: and I said, it's okay, it's not that big a deal.
Speaker 1: Don't worry about it. It's not anything for people to
Speaker 1: have to wait a few extra seconds and tomorrow will
Speaker 1: be a whole new day. You're just learning. It's okay.
Speaker 1: She looked up at me and she goes, aren't you
Speaker 1: that guy from Saddleback? I'm glad I was understanding, not demanding.
Speaker 1: And then I got to thinking, I wonder what is
Speaker 1: the reputation of our church family in Orange County when
Speaker 1: we go out for fast food? Are we understanding or
Speaker 1: are we demanding? The Bible says in Philippians two, do this.
Speaker 1: Don't just think about your own affairs, but be interested
Speaker 1: in others too and what they're doing. Your attitude should
Speaker 1: be the same as that of Jesus Christ. So when
Speaker 1: people serve you this week, be understanding, not demanding. And
Speaker 1: if you don't get your burger right and it didn't
Speaker 1: come back animal style, that's also on the Daniel plan.
Speaker 1: Don't sweat it all right, Okay, number two write this
Speaker 1: one down. When somebody disagrees with me this week, when
Speaker 1: somebody disagrees with me, be tender without surrender. Be tender
Speaker 1: without surrender. I'm not saying gentalist means you have to
Speaker 1: cave in on your convictions. And if somebody tells you
Speaker 1: something is wrong when you know it's right, or somebody
Speaker 1: tells you that something is right when you know that's
Speaker 1: not wrong. That's not right, it's wrong. According to the scripture,
Speaker 1: you don't back down, you don't become wimpy, you don't
Speaker 1: become a chameleon, and say, well, ever, teach his own
Speaker 1: ways and that's your interpretation. Woww No, No, that's a
Speaker 1: cop out. But you can be tender without surrender. Some
Speaker 1: of my best friends are people who violently would disagree
Speaker 1: with me on what I believe about certain things. I
Speaker 1: don't compromise on what I believe. I know what the
Speaker 1: Bible says, and I'm not afraid, and I'm not ashamed,
Speaker 1: and I fear God's disapprove of them more than theirs.
Speaker 1: But I treat them with gentleness and respect, and that's
Speaker 1: why we can have a friendship. Let me show you
Speaker 1: Verse Romans fourteen to one in the paraphrase of the message,
Speaker 1: I love this, welcome with open arms fellow believers who
Speaker 1: don't see things the way you do. In other words,
Speaker 1: they may be another brand of Christian. They may be
Speaker 1: Pentecostal or Catholic, or Presbyterian or Lutheran or Baptist or
Speaker 1: Calvary Chapel or Vineyard or ye, I don't really care.
Speaker 1: Just maybe they don't even agree with you on certain difference.
Speaker 1: Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things
Speaker 1: the way you do, and don't jump all over them
Speaker 1: every time they do or say something you don't agree with.
Speaker 1: That's the exact obs what people are doing on the
Speaker 1: internet right now. They jump over everybody anything. Then, he says,
Speaker 1: even when it seems that they're strong on their opinions
Speaker 1: but weak in the faith department, remember they have their
Speaker 1: own history to deal with, treat them gently. That's being
Speaker 1: like Jesus. That's what God wants you to do. To
Speaker 1: treat everybody gently. You be tender without surrender when somebody
Speaker 1: disagrees with you. Would you write this down on your outline.
Speaker 1: I never get my point across by being cross. You
Speaker 1: can tweet that one too. This is a really tweetable sermon.
Speaker 1: I never get my point across by being cross. You
Speaker 1: don't have to devastate those you disagree with. A lot
Speaker 1: of people make verbal overkill to make a point, and
Speaker 1: they turn everything into win lose. You have to decide
Speaker 1: do I want to make a point, or do I
Speaker 1: want to make a friend with that unbeliever or even
Speaker 1: another fellow Christian? All right, and then one more, let
Speaker 1: me give you this one. When somebody disappoints you, and
Speaker 1: you're going to be disappointed this week. When someone disappoints me,
Speaker 1: be gentle, not judgmental. When somebody disappoints you this week,
Speaker 1: be gentle, not judgmental. Galatian six to one says this,
Speaker 1: if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual,
Speaker 1: should restore him gently. That maybe somebody in your small group,
Speaker 1: you who are spiritual, should restore him gently. But it
Speaker 1: says watch yourself, or you may be tempted too. In
Speaker 1: other words, given the right situation, we're all potential sinners
Speaker 1: in any potential area. We don't surprise ourselves. If somebody's
Speaker 1: caught us in, restore them gently. And Ephesians chapter four,
Speaker 1: verse thirty two says this, be gentle with one another
Speaker 1: and sensitive with one another. Forgive one another as quickly
Speaker 1: and as thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. We're
Speaker 1: going to come back this verse in another week. That's
Speaker 1: say this, God cut you a lot of slack. You
Speaker 1: better cut everybody else a lot of slack. God has
Speaker 1: shown you grace. You better show everybody else a lot
Speaker 1: of grace. God has forgiven you a whole lot more
Speaker 1: than you're going to have to ever forgive anybody else.
Speaker 1: That is gentleness. So how do you react when somebody
Speaker 1: really screws up their life? They really mess it up?
Speaker 1: You go, I told you so, I could see it coming.
Speaker 1: Serves your right. I would never be that dumb. And
Speaker 1: you actually get a secret satisfaction when you see somebody fall,
Speaker 1: particularly if they criticized you. Do you know what angered
Speaker 1: Jesus the most. It wasn't sin that angered Jesus the most.
Speaker 1: What angered Jesus the most were self righteous people who
Speaker 1: thought they spent all their time being God's appointed judge
Speaker 1: on earth of everybody else. And Jesus got really ticked
Speaker 1: off at those people. They were called the Pharisees. Happiness
Speaker 1: is when you can accept people who haven't attained your
Speaker 1: level of perfection. That was sarcasm. If you didn't get it,
Speaker 1: this is what it means. All right, it's time to close.
Speaker 1: Let's bow our heads. You really want to be like Jesus.
Speaker 1: If you do, you're going to have to learn the
Speaker 1: third beatitude. God blesses those who are gentle. The whole
Speaker 1: world will belong to them. Why because they don't overreact
Speaker 1: and they're not out of control. It's strength under control.
Speaker 1: Would you pray this prayer in your heart, Dear Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I am not by nature a gentle person. I'm just not.
Speaker 1: And I need your spirit of power and love and
Speaker 1: self control. And this week when people serve me, help
Speaker 1: me to be understanding, not demanding. And this week when
Speaker 1: people disagree with me, help me to be tender without surrender.
Speaker 1: And this week when people disappoint me, help me to
Speaker 1: be gentle, not judgmental. Lord, I want to be like you.
Speaker 1: I want to have a gentle answer that turns away anger,
Speaker 1: not stirs it up. Help me to lower my voice
Speaker 1: when everybody else raises theirs. And when evil things are
Speaker 1: said about me, help me to respond like Paul, to
Speaker 1: respond gently disarm my critics. And when people are headstrong
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to persuade him, help me to remember
Speaker 1: that I'm never persuasive when I'm abrasive, But the more
Speaker 1: pleasant my words, more persuasive, I'll be. Lord. I want
Speaker 1: my life to be attractive. I want the beauty that
Speaker 1: comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle spirit,
Speaker 1: which is so precious to God. And Lord, help me
Speaker 1: to use gentleness this week to communicate love to those
Speaker 1: that I love in my life. Help me to be
Speaker 1: gentle with them. You said that gentleness earns respect, that
Speaker 1: a woman of gentle grace will be respected, then a
Speaker 1: godly man will be gentle. Lord, I want to be
Speaker 1: a gentle leader. I want to be meek like Moses
Speaker 1: and like Jesus, strength under control. I want my life
Speaker 1: to be a witness. And Lord, I ask you to
Speaker 1: help me to never speak evil of anyone, to not
Speaker 1: be quarrelsome, to show courtesy to everybody, regardless of what
Speaker 1: they believe or how they live. Help me to share
Speaker 1: my faith with gentleness and respect of all. Jesus, You've
Speaker 1: promised that if I would come to you and team
Speaker 1: up with you because you're gentle, I would find rest
Speaker 1: for my soul. Replace my stress with your gentleness. I
Speaker 1: want the fruit of the spirit to grow in my life.
Speaker 1: If you've never invited Jesus Christ in life, said, Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: put your spirit in me beginning tonight. I want to
Speaker 1: follow you and love you and learn to trust you
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. I give my life to you,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. In your name, I pray Amen.