Speaker 1: Hello, everybody, Welcome to Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: So we're continuing with this series called Daring Faith the
Speaker 1: Key to Miracles. And in this series you're learning how
Speaker 1: to have a bold, unshakable faith that gives you courage
Speaker 1: to impact the world around you. And I know we
Speaker 1: all want that. All right, Well, let's hear what Rick
Speaker 1: has to share with us today with the final part
Speaker 1: of a message called Daring to give God my.
Speaker 2: Best Now, to be the best I can be for good. First,
Speaker 2: I have to do it intentionally. I have to make
Speaker 2: the choice to go after it. Second, I must discipline myself.
Speaker 2: And of course this is what athletes do. No athlete
Speaker 2: becomes a pro athlete without discipline, without training. You don't
Speaker 2: become great by doing whatever you feel. You don't become
Speaker 2: great by living by your moods. You just can't make
Speaker 2: up your own rules. You can't. There are no shortcuts
Speaker 2: to maturity. There are no shortcuts to greatness. Look at
Speaker 2: a couple verses. Verse five says this, if anyone competes
Speaker 2: as an athlete, he cannot receive the victor's crown unless
Speaker 2: he competes according to the rules. And in one Corinthians nine,
Speaker 2: twenty five twenty seven. To win the contest, you must
Speaker 2: deny yourself many things that would keep you from doing
Speaker 2: your best. An athlete goes into strict training just to
Speaker 2: win a ribbon or a medal that won't last. But
Speaker 2: we do it for an eternal reward that will last forever.
Speaker 2: So I discipline my body like an athlete, training it
Speaker 2: to do what it should. Now we all know stories
Speaker 2: of what Olympian athletes give up in order to win
Speaker 2: a gold medal. They pretty much put their life on hold.
Speaker 2: They put all it, They put their social life on hold.
Speaker 2: They have a rigid schedule of when I get up
Speaker 2: in the morning, when I go to bed at night.
Speaker 2: They have a rigid schedule of the training table, what
Speaker 2: they eat, what they won't eat, what they do, what
Speaker 2: they don't don't do. They give up. They make enormous
Speaker 2: sacrifices to win a gold or silver or a bronze,
Speaker 2: And God says, you know what, nobody's even going to
Speaker 2: remember those rewards. And they gave their whole life. They
Speaker 2: gave their whole life to something that's just going to vanish.
Speaker 2: It's not going to last, but he says it is
Speaker 2: a wise move to do that for something that's going
Speaker 2: to last forever in eternity, and to make your life
Speaker 2: count and say, Okay, there's some things I can do
Speaker 2: without so I can spend more time with God, so
Speaker 2: I can give more to God, so I could serve more,
Speaker 2: so I could be more and what God wants me
Speaker 2: to be. I would again ask you this question, what
Speaker 2: am I willing to do without in order to be
Speaker 2: the best? Am I willing to do without popularity? Am
Speaker 2: I willing to do without wealth? Am I willing to
Speaker 2: do with without comfort? I saw a poster yesterday and
Speaker 2: it said this, the pain of regret is always greater
Speaker 2: than the pain of discipline. That's a pretty profound statement.
Speaker 2: The pain of regret is always greater than the pain
Speaker 2: of discipline. How would your life be better if you
Speaker 2: had been just a little bit more disciplined early on
Speaker 2: in your life? What are some things you could be
Speaker 2: enjoying today if you had been more disciplined in earlier life.
Speaker 2: The pain of regret goes on and on and on.
Speaker 2: I never learned that language, and I wanted to, but
Speaker 2: I didn't. I never did this. I never did It
Speaker 2: is takes discipline. What do you wish you'd been more
Speaker 2: disciplined about I would say start now, So Rick, how
Speaker 2: do I be more disciplined? I try for a while,
Speaker 2: and then I give up. It's because you're depending on
Speaker 2: your power, not God's power. Will power doesn't work. Let
Speaker 2: me just be real honest about will power doesn't work.
Speaker 2: It'll work for about ninety days. You can change anything
Speaker 2: in your life life for about ninety days. That's why
Speaker 2: almost one hundred percent of New Year's resolutions are over
Speaker 2: by March. Because you could force yourself to do something anything,
Speaker 2: for about ninety days, and then you're going to give up.
Speaker 2: You don't need will power, you need God's power. And
Speaker 2: how do you get God's power by focusing on his reward?
Speaker 2: Notice the secret the personal discipline is in that verse
Speaker 2: that's right there. He says we do it for an
Speaker 2: eternal reward, and that leads us to the third key
Speaker 2: we learn from athletes. Write this down. To be the
Speaker 2: best I can be for God, I must stay focused
Speaker 2: on the reward. I must stay focused on the reward.
Speaker 2: What's the payoff of doing right? What's the payoff of
Speaker 2: doing good? What's the payoff of serving Jesus Christ? Just
Speaker 2: rewards forout eternity. That's no little ribbon or pin you're
Speaker 2: going to get in this life. I have to remember
Speaker 2: the result, the prize, the payoff, the reward. By the way,
Speaker 2: did you know this is what caused Jesus to be
Speaker 2: able to endure the cross? How was Jesus able to
Speaker 2: put up with all the beating, the suffering, the punishment,
Speaker 2: the torture, all of them evil and the mean things
Speaker 2: they did to him before he went to the cross
Speaker 2: and then nailed him to the cross? How did he
Speaker 2: put up with all that suffering? The Bible says, he
Speaker 2: looked beyond the pain to the reward that he was
Speaker 2: going to receive, and the benefit and the prize and
Speaker 2: the payoff. The Bible says this, look up here on
Speaker 2: the screen Hebrews twelve. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who
Speaker 2: both began and finished this race we're in. You're in
Speaker 2: a race, where you realize it or not, it's the
Speaker 2: race of life. Study how he did it because he
Speaker 2: never lost sight of where he was headed, that joyful
Speaker 2: finish with God in heaven. He could put up with
Speaker 2: anything along the way, the cross, shame, whatever, And now
Speaker 2: he's there in the place of honor right along alongside God.
Speaker 2: You can handle enormous pain in your life, and you
Speaker 2: can handle enormous discipline in your life if you realize
Speaker 2: there's a better purpose for it and there's going to
Speaker 2: be a payoff at the end. When you forget the payoff,
Speaker 2: when you forget the reward, when you forget the prize,
Speaker 2: then you're going to give up. And that's why Paul says,
Speaker 2: run to win in your life and keep your eye
Speaker 2: on the prize. Know what God's doing. Can you imagine
Speaker 2: yourself in heaven receiving the prize of God, the well done,
Speaker 2: the commendation and the promotion and the rewards that God's
Speaker 2: going to give you. Let that motivate you. Paul says
Speaker 2: it like this in one Corinthians nine twenty six. I
Speaker 2: run straight to the goal with purpose in every step.
Speaker 2: He's purpose driven, all right. I run straight to the
Speaker 2: goal with purpose in every step. I fight to win.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna just shadow boxing. I'm just playing around the
Speaker 2: problem with a lot of people today. They're just shadowboxing.
Speaker 2: They're air guitaring, they're Christian life, they're pretending they're just
Speaker 2: playing around. They're just hitting the air. They're not serious,
Speaker 2: and he says, run straight to the goal. You need
Speaker 2: to stay focused on the finished line. You need to
Speaker 2: stay focused on this fact. Everything you see is one
Speaker 2: day going to be gone. So you shouldn't be invested
Speaker 2: in a lot of time and money and energy in it.
Speaker 2: You should be primarily investing your time in things that
Speaker 2: are going to last forever. What's that love, the word
Speaker 2: of God and people. Those are going to last forever.
Speaker 2: Everything else isn't going to last. And so you ignore
Speaker 2: the crowds. And if people cheer you, or people cheer you,
Speaker 2: you just ignore them. You're running the race. You keep
Speaker 2: your eye on the goal, and you don't waste energy.
Speaker 2: How many things did I do this last week? Waste
Speaker 2: the energy on things that really don't matter? How many
Speaker 2: things that I worry about this week that really doesn't
Speaker 2: matter in the long scheme of thing. I need to
Speaker 2: be more focused, more purpose driven, like the competitive athlete.
Speaker 2: Then finally we come to the third metaphor, and he says,
Speaker 2: you know, you can learn from agriculture. You can learn
Speaker 2: from farmers some truths about your spiritual life. And here's
Speaker 2: what the Bible says about that. Tewod Corinthians nine six
Speaker 2: to fourteen. Remember this, A farmer who plants only a
Speaker 2: few seeds will get a small crop, but the one
Speaker 2: who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must
Speaker 2: each make up your mind as to how much you
Speaker 2: should give. Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure,
Speaker 2: For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. Then if
Speaker 2: I can give not out of pressure or reluctance, but cheerfully,
Speaker 2: then God will generously provide all you need. This is
Speaker 2: a promise, and you will always have everything that you
Speaker 2: need and plenty left over to share with others. For
Speaker 2: God is the one who gives seed to the farmer,
Speaker 2: and then he gives the farmer bread to eat. And
Speaker 2: in the same way, just like he does with the farmer,
Speaker 2: he will give you many opportunities to do good, and
Speaker 2: He will produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes,
Speaker 2: you will be enriched so that you can give even
Speaker 2: more generously, and you will be glorifying God through your
Speaker 2: generous gifts. And your generosity will prove that you are
Speaker 2: obedient to the good News of Christ. Now I could
Speaker 2: spend a week on this text, but let me just
Speaker 2: summarize it. Your life on earth is like planning a garden.
Speaker 2: That's what he's saying here. He's saying that while you're
Speaker 2: here on earth, you got sixty eighty maybe ninety at
Speaker 2: the most, one hundred years. While you're here, you're planning
Speaker 2: a garden. And the kind of seeds that you plant
Speaker 2: while you're here on earth, you're going to harvest in heaven.
Speaker 2: What you sow on earth, you will read in heaven.
Speaker 2: What you plant on earth will be the fruit that
Speaker 2: you get to enjoy for eternity in heaven. And he said,
Speaker 2: if you plant generously, if you plant a lot of seeds,
Speaker 2: you're gonna have a lot of fruit in heaven. You're
Speaker 2: gonna have a lot to joy there. Then he says,
Speaker 2: if you plant sparingly, you're a miser and you hold
Speaker 2: it back and you don't give it away. He said,
Speaker 2: you're not gonna have much up there. He says, if
Speaker 2: you sow generously, you're gonna reap generously. Now, five times
Speaker 2: in the Bible, Jesus gives the same command, and he
Speaker 2: says this, I tell you, store up treasure for yourself
Speaker 2: in heaven. Store up treasure for yourself in heaven. Store
Speaker 2: up treasure for yourself in heaven. Store up treasure for
Speaker 2: yourself in heaven. Store up treasure for yourself in heaven.
Speaker 2: Anytime God says something five times, he says, I really
Speaker 2: want you to get this. I highly recommend you store
Speaker 2: up treasure in heaven. Are you doing that? So, how
Speaker 2: in the world do I do that? By planting seeds
Speaker 2: of generosity. Anytime you plant a seed of generosity, I'm
Speaker 2: not just talking about money. I'm talking about what you
Speaker 2: give of your life away. You're planning a seed of
Speaker 2: generosity when you help somebody else, when you are unselfish,
Speaker 2: when you serve, when you put yourself out for the
Speaker 2: benefit of somebody else, when you do something totally unselfish,
Speaker 2: when you are generous with your time, when you're generous
Speaker 2: with your money and your income, when you are generous
Speaker 2: with your reputation, when you're generous with your talent and
Speaker 2: you use it for the benefit of others, not yourself,
Speaker 2: you are planting seeds, and he says, I highly recommend
Speaker 2: that you sow generously because you want a lot of
Speaker 2: fruit in heaven. You want a lot there. Here's the
Speaker 2: final lesson. Write this down to reap a great harvest.
Speaker 2: I must plant generously in faith. I must plant generously
Speaker 2: in faith. Can I have done this hundreds and hundreds
Speaker 2: and hundreds of times? You know our story. You know that.
Speaker 2: Can I give away ninety one percent of our income
Speaker 2: and we live on nine and we raise that from
Speaker 2: ten percent every year for forty years, and you cannot
Speaker 2: outgive God. I just give you a clear example. I
Speaker 2: played this game for forty years of God. I lose
Speaker 2: every year. You cannot outgive God. Let me end with
Speaker 2: two promises of Jesus. Luke Chapter six says, this give
Speaker 2: and it will be given back to you. You'll be
Speaker 2: given much. It will pour it into your hands, more
Speaker 2: than you can hold. You will be given so much
Speaker 2: it will spill out on your lap. The way you
Speaker 2: give to others is the way God will give to you.
Speaker 2: Underlying that verse, the way you give to others is
Speaker 2: the way God will give to you. I highly recommend
Speaker 2: you start being generous in planning seeds in this life
Speaker 2: to harvest in the next. And then in Mark chapter ten,
Speaker 2: verse twenty nine thirty one, Jesus gives a guarantee about
Speaker 2: anything you give up for his sake. Mark ten, twenty
Speaker 2: nine thirty one Jesus says this, I guarantee you this. Now,
Speaker 2: if God guarantees something, you can count on that one. Okay,
Speaker 2: I guarantee you this. Anyone who gives up anything for
Speaker 2: my sake and for the good news, whether it's a
Speaker 2: home or family member or property, will get more than
Speaker 2: that back. Is a guarantee of Jesus multiplied one hundredfold.
Speaker 2: And he says, in this world to come, in the
Speaker 2: world to come, that will be given eternal life forever. Now,
Speaker 2: God says, anything that I give up for his sake,
Speaker 2: for his kingdom, anything I sacrifice for him, I will
Speaker 2: be returned one hundredfold. Do you know what one hundredfold is.
Speaker 2: That's ten thousand percent interest. Do you know any stockbroker
Speaker 2: who will guarantee that? Do you know anybody who will
Speaker 2: guarantee you ten thousand percent interest on your return? No,
Speaker 2: you do not. Only God and sons can do that.
Speaker 2: They've been doing business with people like you for two
Speaker 2: thousand years. That is the promise of God. Now you
Speaker 2: can either believe it or you don't. But if you
Speaker 2: don't believe it, why do you believe Jesus will save
Speaker 2: you and take you to heaven? That's the same Jesus,
Speaker 2: Why do some people trust God with their eternal salvation
Speaker 2: and don't trust God with their finances? That does not
Speaker 2: make sense. It then makes sense. So when we look
Speaker 2: at these three people the.
Speaker 3: Soldier, the effective soldier saves lives, the effective athlete wins
Speaker 3: the prize, and the effective farmer harvests a larger size.
Speaker 2: One hundred fold. Now, as a close in this message,
Speaker 2: I've asked you a couple times to consider, what is
Speaker 2: it that I might give up or let go of
Speaker 2: in order to have more time for the things that
Speaker 2: matter in life? What is it that I could let
Speaker 2: go of in order to give more, to serve more,
Speaker 2: to share more, to be more, to be all God
Speaker 2: wants to be in order to be the best you
Speaker 2: can be. Now, the fact is, there are a lot
Speaker 2: of things in your life you could probably do without,
Speaker 2: and you wouldn't miss them, a lot of things, But
Speaker 2: there is one thing you cannot do without. You got
Speaker 2: to have this one. What you cannot do without is
Speaker 2: a daily deep connection with Jesus Christ. If you're going
Speaker 2: to grow and become the man God wants you to be,
Speaker 2: if you're going to grow and become the woman God
Speaker 2: wants you to be. You have to have a daily
Speaker 2: deep connection with Jesus Christ. You can't live a day
Speaker 2: without him. Because these things that we just talked about,
Speaker 2: these things, three from the soldier, three from the farmer,
Speaker 2: and one from them, three from the athlete, one from
Speaker 2: the farmer. These seven things, you can't do them on
Speaker 2: your own. You can't do them on will power. You'll
Speaker 2: do them for a while and you'll give up. You
Speaker 2: need God's power. You need to be plugged into Him.
Speaker 2: And that's what it takes. That's power. Heads. Would you
Speaker 2: pray this prayer? Dear God. I have to admit that
Speaker 2: I have not always used my time for things that
Speaker 2: really matter, and I have wasted energy and money on
Speaker 2: things that aren't going to last. But I want that
Speaker 2: to change. I want to run my race to win.
Speaker 2: I want to win the prize. I want to reap
Speaker 2: the harvest. I want to please my commanding officer, You
Speaker 2: and Lord. If that means sacrificing my comfort, so be it.
Speaker 2: If that means and involves eliminating distractions, so be it.
Speaker 2: If that means even being willing to die for you,
Speaker 2: so be it. I intend to win. I want the
Speaker 2: rest of my life to be the best of my life.
Speaker 2: And God, I know I can't change on my own.
Speaker 2: I don't have enough willpower. I need your power to
Speaker 2: discipline myself to go for the best, to stay focused
Speaker 2: on the reward. I'm asking you to teach me to
Speaker 2: plant generously so I can harroravist abundantly in the next life.
Speaker 2: Help me to not be short thinking. Help me not
Speaker 2: to think of only the hearing now, which is not
Speaker 2: going to last, but to live my life the way
Speaker 2: you intended me to in light of eternity, and to
Speaker 2: do now what I will later enjoy for eternity. If
Speaker 2: you've never invited Jesus Christ in your life, said Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: come into my life and save me right now. I
Speaker 2: want to know you. I want to trust you, and
Speaker 2: I want to learn to love you. I give you
Speaker 2: myself completely, and I ask you to use me for
Speaker 2: your purposes in your name. I pray Amen. Hi everybody,
Speaker 2: this is Rick and I hope you and today's broadcast.
Speaker 2: You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the
Speaker 2: very first time, or you just recommitted your life to
Speaker 2: Jesus again today, would you let me know about it?
Speaker 2: There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me
Speaker 2: Rick at pastor Rick dot com and say, Rick, I
Speaker 2: prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ.
Speaker 2: And I'll send you some material that will help you
Speaker 2: on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also pray for you.
Speaker 2: God bless you.
Speaker 1: What a life giving message from Pastor Rick. And now
Speaker 1: here's Rick with a special message.
Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 2: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples. That's evangelism. Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you. That's discipleship. And we call that the
Speaker 2: Great Commission. We believe it daily hope that a great
Speaker 2: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 2: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 2: a great community. You know, I started daily hope so
Speaker 2: I could spread the good news about Jesus, not just
Speaker 2: across America, but all around the world. And we want
Speaker 2: people to know that God's word is filled with hope
Speaker 2: and truth and the power that we need to follow
Speaker 2: him every day is available to every single one. You
Speaker 2: know as well as I do, that the Word of
Speaker 2: God changes lives. It's a live it's active, and it
Speaker 2: breathes new life and new love into all of our lives.
Speaker 2: So wherever you listen to this, whether you listen on
Speaker 2: the website, whether you listen on a radio station, or
Speaker 2: whether you listen to a podcast, you're a part of
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Speaker 2: I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.
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Speaker 2: all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.
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Speaker 1: We hope you'll join up us next time when we
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