Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series
Speaker 1: called the Awesome Power of Vision. In these lessons, Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick shows us how to pursue God's amazing vision for
Speaker 1: each of our lives so that we can see our
Speaker 1: future with faith and not fear. But first, do you
Speaker 1: ever feel like you've lost your spark your joy? In
Speaker 1: just a few moments, We're going to tell you about
Speaker 1: an exciting new resource that will deepen your relationship with
Speaker 1: God and restore your joy. You can take a sneak
Speaker 1: peek right now by going to Pastororick dot com while
Speaker 1: you listen, and if you want, you can just text
Speaker 1: the word Daily to eight hundred, six hundred five thousand
Speaker 1: and four to find out more. Right now, here's Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick Warren with the final part of a message called
Speaker 1: My part in fulfilling Christ's Vision.
Speaker 2: Colossians three fourteen says this, most of all, let love
Speaker 2: guide your life, for then the whole church will stay
Speaker 2: together in perfect harmony. What's skeets my rocket science? Let
Speaker 2: love like guide your life. One Peter four to eight
Speaker 2: says this powerful in the message love each other as
Speaker 2: if your life depended on it. Do you do that?
Speaker 2: You do that with other Christians. You love each other's
Speaker 2: if your life depends on it. Love makes up for
Speaker 2: practically anything, you know. I found that to be true
Speaker 2: that Saddle Backed Church. When we had no buildings, we
Speaker 2: had no money, we had no we had no big programs,
Speaker 2: we had no large staff. You know, we had a
Speaker 2: tent on a moonscape and that was about it, And
Speaker 2: yet thousands came. Why because people want to be where
Speaker 2: love is. If you have a church that genuinely loves people,
Speaker 2: genuinely loves each other, you'd have to lock the door
Speaker 2: to keep people out. People don't come because of a
Speaker 2: fancy program or a fancy preaching or fancy this or that.
Speaker 2: They come because their lives are changed by love. Finally,
Speaker 2: let me give you one other principle. Then, I think
Speaker 2: we all need to work on this year because we're
Speaker 2: in an age where there's more division going on in society.
Speaker 2: We just have to insulate ourselves from all of that
Speaker 2: conflict and love each other because if people like what
Speaker 2: they see in us, they'll listen to what we say.
Speaker 2: So let me give you one other principle from God's
Speaker 2: word that you can use to be an agent of unity,
Speaker 2: an agent of reconciliation. Number four Here it is offer
Speaker 2: encouragement instead of criticism. All right, just when you're talking
Speaker 2: to people, offer encouragement instead of criticism. That is so counterculture.
Speaker 2: Our culture doesn't offer encouragement. It offers criticism. That's all
Speaker 2: it offers. People make a living being critics. Nobody makes
Speaker 2: a living being an encourager. Romans fourteen, verses nineteen and
Speaker 2: twenty says this in the message, let's use all our energy. Okay, listen,
Speaker 2: let's use all our energy in getting along with each other.
Speaker 2: You want to direct your energy in the right way.
Speaker 2: Use all our energy and getting along with each other.
Speaker 2: Help each other by using encouraging words. Help each other
Speaker 2: by using encouraging words. Don't drag others down by finding fault. Okay,
Speaker 2: more encouragement, less criticism. Don't drag each other down by
Speaker 2: by just finding fault. Now, I know what you're thinking,
Speaker 2: you say, Rick, I am all for encouragement. But what
Speaker 2: do you do when something is wrong and everybody knows
Speaker 2: it and it's just wrong? Do you ignore it? You
Speaker 2: don't criticize it, You ignore it. The answer is, of
Speaker 2: course not, but listen, And this is the mark of leadership.
Speaker 2: You can learn the skill of sharing a rebuke or
Speaker 2: pointing out a problem in a positive way. That's a skill. Okay,
Speaker 2: you can always learn how to share a rebuke or
Speaker 2: point out a negative make a critique, but you say
Speaker 2: it in such a positive way that they're able to
Speaker 2: receive it. See, there's always two ways to say something.
Speaker 2: You can say it the nice way, and you can
Speaker 2: say it the not nice way. You've always got a choice.
Speaker 2: It is possible to speak a difficult truth in a
Speaker 2: positive way. I do it every whey, and I could
Speaker 2: teach you how to do that too. And over the
Speaker 2: past thirty forty years, I've taught a lot of pastors,
Speaker 2: literally hundreds of thousands of them around the world how
Speaker 2: to do it, how to talk about a negative concept
Speaker 2: in a positive way. One of my questions that I
Speaker 2: use in preparing a message, and I teach this in
Speaker 2: the preaching seminar, is what is the most positive way
Speaker 2: to say it? Why? Why would you be interested in
Speaker 2: saying it in a positive way. Well, if you're interested
Speaker 2: in being persuasive, then you're going to need to learn
Speaker 2: that skill. Why, Because the Bible says it. Proverbs sixteen,
Speaker 2: verse twenty one says this, a wise, mature person is
Speaker 2: known for his understanding. The more pleasant his words, the
Speaker 2: more persuasive he is. That's scripture, that's the Bible. The
Speaker 2: more pleasant your words, the more persuasive you'll be. You
Speaker 2: might write this down. I am never persuasive when I'm abrasive.
Speaker 2: All right, I'm never persuasive when I'm abrasive. If I
Speaker 2: say something offensively, it will be received defensively. If I
Speaker 2: wanted to, I could get up here every week and
Speaker 2: put you on the defense in about thirty seconds and
Speaker 2: just tell you all the things you're doing wrong. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you're right, that doesn't change anybody. Telling it like it
Speaker 2: is doesn't change anybody telling it like it could be.
Speaker 2: Does telling it like could be speaking preaching, teaching for faith? Now,
Speaker 2: I'll be honest with you, it's not hard to be
Speaker 2: negative when so much of our culture is negative. I mean, really,
Speaker 2: you're bombarded with a continual diet of criticisms and attacks
Speaker 2: and slanders and militias talk on all the cable news channels.
Speaker 2: We don't have news anymore on cable. We have three
Speaker 2: hours of opinion every night on every channel, just different opinions,
Speaker 2: and they're stereotyping, and that hominin attacks on people every
Speaker 2: single night on TV and every day on talk radio.
Speaker 2: So we live like fish in a culture of seawater.
Speaker 2: We live in a culture of negativity. And it's always
Speaker 2: easier to stand on the sidelines and take shots than
Speaker 2: it is to get involved and make a contribution. But
Speaker 2: God warns us over and over and over not to criticize,
Speaker 2: not to compare, not to judge each other. He says
Speaker 2: that literally one hundred times in scripture. Now you may
Speaker 2: not realize this, but when you criticize another believer who
Speaker 2: is doing something in faith, and you criticize what another
Speaker 2: believer is doing in faith and from a sincere heart
Speaker 2: and conviction, you're actually interfering with God's business. Did you
Speaker 2: know that when you criticize another fellow Christian, a brother
Speaker 2: or sister in Christ who, to the best of their knowledge,
Speaker 2: they're doing what they're doing in faith. Maybe you don't
Speaker 2: like it, maybe you think it's wrong, but they're doing
Speaker 2: it in faith with a clear conscience, and you criticize them,
Speaker 2: you are interfering with God's business. That's Romans fourteen. Romans fourteen,
Speaker 2: verse four says this, what right do you have to
Speaker 2: criticize somebody else's servants? They're not your servant, They're God's servant.
Speaker 2: God says, what right do you have to criticize somebody
Speaker 2: else's servant? Only the Lord can decide if they are
Speaker 2: doing right.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can
Speaker 1: listen online anytime at past tim That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: How do you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel
Speaker 3: spiritually dry, like you're in a desert, or like you're
Speaker 3: just going through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark,
Speaker 3: your joy. God knows how you feel right now. You
Speaker 3: are not alone. He knows even David and the Bible
Speaker 3: felt like that and Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. God says,
Speaker 3: you will seek Me and find Me when you seek
Speaker 3: Me with all your heart. When you seek God intentionally,
Speaker 3: it leads to a renewal of your relationship with him.
Speaker 3: That's why Pastor Rick created a very special, brand new
Speaker 3: resource called Going Deeper with God a personal Renewal Retreat,
Speaker 3: and it he'll personally leave you on a spiritual journey
Speaker 3: to help you seek God. Together, you and Pastor Rick
Speaker 3: will go through a series of audio lessons and after
Speaker 3: each session you'll take a little time and to complete
Speaker 3: exercises in the Companion workbook. You can do this at
Speaker 3: home in short sessions, or you can get away for
Speaker 3: a day and do it in one sitting. Through this retreat,
Speaker 3: you'll experience a renewal of life within you. God will
Speaker 3: restore your joy. As he renews, refreshes, invigorates, and revives
Speaker 3: your spiritual life, You'll never be the same again. Will
Speaker 3: send you Going Deeper with God a Personal Renewal Retreat
Speaker 3: as our way of saying thanks when you give a
Speaker 3: gift today to help daily hope, share the hope of
Speaker 3: Jesus with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred and
Speaker 3: six hundred at five zero zero four or go to
Speaker 3: Pastorick dot com to get your copy of this great resource.
Speaker 3: That's eight hundred at six hundred, five zero zero four
Speaker 3: or Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 2: Once again, here's Rick Romans fourteen, verse ten. Here's what
Speaker 2: it says Phillip's translation, Why do you criticize your brother's actions?
Speaker 2: Why do you try to make him look small? We'll
Speaker 2: all be judged one day, not by each other's standards,
Speaker 2: or even by our own, but by the judgment of God.
Speaker 2: Do you know that when I judge you, if you're
Speaker 2: a believer, or when I judge any other believer, four
Speaker 2: things instantly happen. The Bible says this. Number one, I
Speaker 2: lose fellowship with God. Number two, I expose my own
Speaker 2: pride and insecurity. Number three, I set myself up to
Speaker 2: be judged by God. And number four I harm the
Speaker 2: fellowship of the church. All of those are in the
Speaker 2: Book of Romans. A critical spirit is a costly advice.
Speaker 2: You advice you can't you can't afford it. You know,
Speaker 2: the Bible calls Satan the accuser of the brethren, the
Speaker 2: accuser of our brothers and sisters, and that's in Revelation twelve,
Speaker 2: verse ten. But in that it's the devil's job to blame,
Speaker 2: to complain, it's the devil's job to criticize members of
Speaker 2: God's own family, which means when I do that or
Speaker 2: when you do that, we're being duped into doing Satan's
Speaker 2: work for him because he's the accuser of Christians. And
Speaker 2: when I accuse other Christians, when I criticize and I
Speaker 2: judge other Christians, when you do that, you're basically Satan
Speaker 2: takes a holiday. Well, I don't need to do that.
Speaker 2: They're doing it for me. You're being the accuser. Remember,
Speaker 2: other Christians, no matter how much you disagree with them,
Speaker 2: are not the real enemy. Anytime we spend comparing or
Speaker 2: criticizing our fellow believers is time that should have been
Speaker 2: spent building up the unity of our fellowship. Now, I've
Speaker 2: got a lot more I can say about this, but
Speaker 2: our time's up. There at least a dozen more principles
Speaker 2: I could teach you about being an asient of unity,
Speaker 2: but times up. So let me sum it up with
Speaker 2: just two more verses. And in many ways, these two
Speaker 2: verses represent the two different choices that you have today
Speaker 2: and that you have every day, every single day of
Speaker 2: your life. You choose which of these verses you're going
Speaker 2: to do now. The first choice is to live a
Speaker 2: self centered life, not worry about those who we heard,
Speaker 2: and walk around being critical and judgmental of other people,
Speaker 2: even other Christians. The second choice is to live a
Speaker 2: Christ centered life instead of a self centered life that
Speaker 2: cares about what He cares about. Most that we learn
Speaker 2: how to really love. Let me show you the two verses.
Speaker 2: First one is Galatians Chapter five. Galatians five, verses thirteen
Speaker 2: to fifteen says this, you have been called to live
Speaker 2: in freedom. You've been called to live in freedom. Not
Speaker 2: freedom to indulge your selfish nature, though, but freedom to serve.
Speaker 2: Freedom to serve each other in love. God's entire law
Speaker 2: is summed up in this phrase. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 2: But if you keep biting, this is scripture I'm reading.
Speaker 2: If you keep biting and devouring each other and tearing
Speaker 2: each other apart, I call them cannibal Christians, you will
Speaker 2: be destroyed by each other. You know what's sad is
Speaker 2: that verse describes a lot of Christians in culture today.
Speaker 2: A lot of Christians are as mean and demeaning and vitriolic.
Speaker 2: And what they put in the comment sections of social media,
Speaker 2: you'd expect it from non believers. But what's happened is
Speaker 2: the Gospel is not penetrated to character. But there is
Speaker 2: an alternative, and it's this next verse. First Peter three
Speaker 2: eight First Peter three eight NIV says this, let me
Speaker 2: sum it up. For all of you live in harmony
Speaker 2: with each other. And then he says, how we live
Speaker 2: in harmony. Be sympathetic, love each other as family, have compassion,
Speaker 2: and be humble. Okay, he says, the way you live
Speaker 2: in harmony with each other is these four things. You
Speaker 2: be sympathetic, you love each other's family, you have compassion,
Speaker 2: and you be humble. Peter gives us four essential qualities
Speaker 2: that we all need to work on this year in
Speaker 2: this culture. He says, they're the keys to living in
Speaker 2: harmony with Christians that you disagree with. They're the keys
Speaker 2: to maintaining unity in the church that God expects us
Speaker 2: to protect. Peter tells us that we will get to enjoy. Listen,
Speaker 2: we get to enjoy all the benefits of a united church,
Speaker 2: a unified church if we do four things. And by
Speaker 2: the way, when the church is as unified as the
Speaker 2: Book of Acts, then you have the power and the
Speaker 2: miracles of Acts. But he says, it takes four things
Speaker 2: to enjoy the benefits that God wants to give us
Speaker 2: and give our church. Number one, if we sympathize with
Speaker 2: each other, set of criticize or antagonize or polarize over
Speaker 2: our differences. If we value the most, the thing we
Speaker 2: value the most is our relationship to each other in
Speaker 2: God's eternal family, instead of any other identity, which isn't
Speaker 2: going to last. All those others are temporary. You know,
Speaker 2: I said this to somebody the other day. I am
Speaker 2: a six foot to white male American overweight, but I
Speaker 2: have more in common with a five foot Asian woman
Speaker 2: who's a Christian than I do with a six foot
Speaker 2: two and a half white guy who's an American. Why
Speaker 2: because he's not going to heaven. He's not my brother.
Speaker 2: She is my sister for eternity. I'm already a family
Speaker 2: member with her. So it has nothing to do with
Speaker 2: the externals. It has everything to do with the heart.
Speaker 2: And that's the next one. He says, if we show compassion,
Speaker 2: if we show compassion instead of derision, if we show
Speaker 2: compassion instead of condescension, if we show compassion instead of division,
Speaker 2: then we'll have the benefits of unity. And then he says,
Speaker 2: if we act with humility, we act with humility instead
Speaker 2: of with inflexibility, instead of with irritability, instead of with animosity,
Speaker 2: I ended the message last week the first half of
Speaker 2: this message on unity with a question and I and
Speaker 2: a point that you probably haven't thought about, and I
Speaker 2: want to say it again. Jesus is still waiting for
Speaker 2: us to be the answer to his prayer. The last
Speaker 2: thing Jesus said before he went to the cross is, Father,
Speaker 2: may they be one? Where anything but that the church
Speaker 2: is not one. It's divided. It's divided by politics, it's
Speaker 2: divided by racism, it's divided by all kinds of different stuff.
Speaker 2: Jesus is still waiting for his prayer to be answered.
Speaker 2: Will we be that generation that answers the prayer, the
Speaker 2: prayer that they may be one as we are one? Father?
Speaker 2: Will we be that? I'm in? I'm in. I hope
Speaker 2: you are too. Let's bow our heads. Father, We've looked
Speaker 2: at a lot of scriptures today. We want your church
Speaker 2: to not be a thermometer that just looks like the
Speaker 2: same thing in culture and just registers what everybody else
Speaker 2: is doing around us. We want to be a thermostat.
Speaker 2: We want to set the culture. We want to change
Speaker 2: the culture. We want to be able to turn in
Speaker 2: the temperature up or down. We don't want to be thermometers.
Speaker 2: We want to be thermostats, and the only way we're
Speaker 2: going to do that is if we do it together.
Speaker 2: So I pray that we would have a new commitment
Speaker 2: to love each other, regardless of our background, of our race,
Speaker 2: of our politics, of our economic status, of our gender,
Speaker 2: of all the different things that on the surface divide us.
Speaker 2: Help us to realize that the only thing that's going
Speaker 2: to last in the entire universe is your church. Your
Speaker 2: family is the reason you created the universe, and we
Speaker 2: are part of that. Thank you for that privilege. Help
Speaker 2: us to love the real Church, not the ideal church.
Speaker 2: Now you pray in your heart. If there's something you say, Lord,
Speaker 2: I want to be more loving, say that to him.
Speaker 2: I want to be more loving. I want to be
Speaker 2: an agent of unity. I don't want to be a divider.
Speaker 2: I want to be a unifier. If you've never invited
Speaker 2: Christ into your life, He's the one who starts making
Speaker 2: peace with you, and then you can make peace with others.
Speaker 2: Just say, Jesus Christ, come into my life. I want
Speaker 2: to get to know you and learn to trust you.
Speaker 2: I want to follow you as best I know how.
Speaker 2: Forgive me for all stuff I've done wrong, and I
Speaker 2: ask you to humbly accept me into your family. I
Speaker 2: pray this in your name.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 2: Hi everybody, this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 2: today's broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer
Speaker 2: for the very first time, or you just recommitted your
Speaker 2: life to Jesus again today, would you let me know
Speaker 2: about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment. So
Speaker 2: write me Rick at pastor Rick dot com and say, Rick,
Speaker 2: I prayed that prayer of commitment, I gave my life
Speaker 2: to Christ. And I'll send you some material that will
Speaker 2: help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also
Speaker 2: pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's daily Hope. We're so thankful that
Speaker 1: you've chosen to spend some time with us. If you've
Speaker 1: missed any part of this broadcast, just go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com and listen online. Anytime. Rick will be back
Speaker 1: to close out our time today. But first, how do
Speaker 1: you feel spiritually right now? Maybe you feel spiritually dry,
Speaker 1: like you're in a desert, or like you're just going
Speaker 1: through the motions. Maybe you've lost your spark, your joy.
Speaker 1: God knows how you feel. Right now, and you're not alone.
Speaker 1: He knows even David and the Bible felt like that.
Speaker 1: And Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen, God says, you will seek
Speaker 1: me and find me when you seek Me with all
Speaker 1: your heart. When you seek God intentionally, it leads to
Speaker 1: a renewal of your relationship with him. And that's why
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick created a very special, brand new resource called
Speaker 1: Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal retreat. Right now,
Speaker 1: here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a very personal and serious question.
Speaker 2: Would you truly like to have a deeper relationship with God?
Speaker 2: Not a superficial one, a deep one. Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen.
Speaker 2: God says this, you will seek me and find me
Speaker 2: when you seek for Me with all your heart. When
Speaker 2: you seek God intentionally, it leads to a renewal of
Speaker 2: your relationship with him. You're as close to God as
Speaker 2: you want to be, and if you want to be closer,
Speaker 2: it's up to you. That's why I created a Going
Speaker 2: Deeper with God personal Renewal Retreat. Yeah, going Deeper with
Speaker 2: God personal renewal Retreat. It's retreat just meant for you
Speaker 2: where you can get alone with God and you can
Speaker 2: connect with Him in an intimate way that's going to
Speaker 2: refresh and renew and revitalize your relationship with God. It's
Speaker 2: going to give you a deeper understanding of His love,
Speaker 2: and it will also prepare you to be used by
Speaker 2: God in the days ahead. Now, as I lead you
Speaker 2: through this Going Deeper with God Retreat, my hope is
Speaker 2: that God will use it to completely revitalize and re
Speaker 2: energize your spiritual life. Together, we'll go through a series
Speaker 2: of audio lessons and after each session, you'll just take
Speaker 2: a little bit of time to complete the exercises in
Speaker 2: the Companion workbook that I've prepared for you. And you
Speaker 2: can do this. You can do it at home, you
Speaker 2: can do it at school. You can do it in
Speaker 2: short sessions, or you can get away for a whole
Speaker 2: day and do it all in one setting. My goal
Speaker 2: is to strengthen your relationship with God, deepen your commitment
Speaker 2: and surrendered Him in affirm your commitment to live for
Speaker 2: His glory. You know, maybe you've never thought about this,
Speaker 2: but God, you're ready to go deeper with you. He's
Speaker 2: just waiting on you. Now. I want to help you
Speaker 2: get started by sending you a copy of Going Deeper
Speaker 2: with God today and when you partner with Daily Hope
Speaker 2: Hope to take the word of God these positive messages
Speaker 2: to people all around the world. My team is going
Speaker 2: to send you this very special spiritual growth tool just
Speaker 2: to say thanks. I hope you'll take advantage of this Today.
Speaker 1: We'll send you Going Deeper with God, a personal renewal
Speaker 1: retreat as our way of saying thanks. When you give
Speaker 1: a gift today to help Daily Hope share the hope
Speaker 1: of Jesus with a hurting world. Just call eight hundred
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four or go to Pastororrick
Speaker 1: dot com to get your copy of this great resource.
Speaker 1: That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com. Be sure to join us next time
Speaker 1: as we look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Ricks Daily Hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support.