Speaker 1: Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today,
Speaker 1: Rick continues teaching a series called Connecting with God the
Speaker 1: Lord's Prayer. In these lessons, Rick shows you what it
Speaker 1: means to truly be spiritually connected to God and to
Speaker 1: each other through the power of God's love and God's word.
Speaker 1: In a moment, we're going to tell you how to
Speaker 1: get the Daily Hope Advent Calendar. This special resource will
Speaker 1: help you experience all that Christmas promises. Go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com to find out more, or text the word
Speaker 1: daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Speaker 1: That's Pastorick dot com. Or the word Daily to eight
Speaker 1: hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Right now, here's
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick with part two of a message called the
Speaker 1: Prayer of Deliverance.
Speaker 2: Step one one, identify what makes me vulnerable. Watch, don't
Speaker 2: just pray, Watch and pray. Then once you know that pattern,
Speaker 2: here's a step number two. Plan to avoid it. You
Speaker 2: plan to avoid it. You don't wait until you're in
Speaker 2: the situation. Decide am I gonna give into this or not? No,
Speaker 2: you decide before your emotions kick into gear. You know,
Speaker 2: when I used to be a youth pastor many years ago,
Speaker 2: and I would tell kids that they needed to plan
Speaker 2: their dates. I said, just don't go out on a
Speaker 2: date and say what do you want to do. You're
Speaker 2: gonna end up in the back of a car because
Speaker 2: you're bored. There's nothing else to do. I said, you're
Speaker 2: either gonna go by your plans or your glands. So
Speaker 2: I said, plan your dates, know where you're headed, know
Speaker 2: what you parents. You need to teach that to your kids.
Speaker 2: Don't just go out and say we're gonna we don't
Speaker 2: know what we're gonna do. It says you know, plan
Speaker 2: to avoid it. You need to know what you're going
Speaker 2: to do now. The Bible says this plan carefully what
Speaker 2: you do, avoid evil, Walk straight ahead, don't go one
Speaker 2: step off the right way. Whenever I read that verse,
Speaker 2: it reminds me when I was in college in nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy four, I actually lived in Nagasaki, Japan, and I
Speaker 2: taught English in a church in Nagasaki, Japan, and I
Speaker 2: lived with the missionaries who lived there permanently in Nagasaki,
Speaker 2: and their house was at the top of a hill.
Speaker 2: Nagasaki is kind of like San Francisco. It's all hills
Speaker 2: and valleys in beautiful bay. But to get from the
Speaker 2: church to their house, I had to walk through the
Speaker 2: Nagasaki red light district every single day and there were
Speaker 2: no there were I mean no holds barred there. I
Speaker 2: mean it was there were posters of nudity every where,
Speaker 2: and I basically had to walk, and as I did,
Speaker 2: I would avoid evil. Walk straight ahead, don't step off
Speaker 2: one to the right or to the left. Okay, I
Speaker 2: just put my blinders on, just headed for the home.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like cow going back to the barn
Speaker 2: or whatever. Now, Temptation always begins with the natural desire
Speaker 2: in you.
Speaker 3: Temptation.
Speaker 2: If you didn't have a natural desire, it would never
Speaker 2: key into it. And often temptation is fulfilling a legitimate
Speaker 2: desire in the wrong way, or fulfilling a legitimate desire
Speaker 2: at the wrong time or in the wrong amount. You
Speaker 2: have a natural desire to eat, You have a need
Speaker 2: to eat.
Speaker 3: You have a natural.
Speaker 2: Desire to drink, to sleep, you have natural sexual drives.
Speaker 2: These are natural. Where do you think you got those?
Speaker 2: God gave them to you. Those are not evil. What
Speaker 2: is temptation. Temptation is when we abuse and misuse what.
Speaker 3: God has given us.
Speaker 2: That's temptation, when we abuse and misuse something that God
Speaker 2: has given to us for good. Fire is good, but
Speaker 2: if you amuse it, use it and misuse it, it's
Speaker 2: going to burn up your house. Water is a good thing.
Speaker 2: Your body is ninety percent water, but if you get
Speaker 2: too much of it, you're gonna drown. And so there's
Speaker 2: nothing wrong with water, it's just misused and abused. It
Speaker 2: becomes a temptation. So temptation what it does is it
Speaker 2: turns a routine desire into.
Speaker 3: A runaway desire.
Speaker 2: I gotta have it, and I've got to have it
Speaker 2: now and now now, now, wrong time, wrong way, wrong amount,
Speaker 2: and it becomes more than any important, than anything else,
Speaker 2: and it's all you think about. And any good God
Speaker 2: given desire out of control becomes a sin. So you
Speaker 2: have to plan in advance. I say, you know what
Speaker 2: I know. I get tempted in sports bars. We'll simple,
Speaker 2: don't go to sports bars. Okay, I get tempted to
Speaker 2: pick up the porno magazines and seven elevens. Don't go
Speaker 2: to seven elevens. It's real simple. If you don't want
Speaker 2: to get stung. You stay away from the bees. So
Speaker 2: you know that the when, the where, the why, the who,
Speaker 2: the what, the how that makes you vulnerable, and then
Speaker 2: you plan to avoid that area. Step number three, I
Speaker 2: guard my heart. I must guard my heart. Now this
Speaker 2: is very, very important because the Bible says, out of
Speaker 2: the heart. Everything comes out of the heart, a man
Speaker 2: speaks and all of the issues of life. Temptation always
Speaker 2: starts inside of you. We think temptation is on the outside. No,
Speaker 2: it is not the triggers on the outside, but the
Speaker 2: temptation is actually inside you. And if there were no
Speaker 2: natural temptation inside you, based on your shape and your nature,
Speaker 2: it wouldn't have any attraction to you. It's like a magnet,
Speaker 2: you know, if a magnet doesn't attract plastic because there's
Speaker 2: nothing inside the plastic that's metal.
Speaker 3: To pull it out.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this up here on the screen James
Speaker 2: one fourteen. We are tempted by our own desires that
Speaker 2: drag us off and trap us. And look at this
Speaker 2: next verse. The Bible says, it is inside you. It's
Speaker 2: inside you, out of.
Speaker 3: A person's heart.
Speaker 2: That's why you have to guard your heart come evil thoughts,
Speaker 2: sexual immorality, theft, the desire to kill people, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceitfulness,
Speaker 2: that's when you manipulate other people, lust, envy, slander, arrogance,
Speaker 2: and foolishness. All these vile things come from not outside
Speaker 2: but from inside. So if you're serious about breaking some
Speaker 2: bad habits and breaking a bad temptation, you got to
Speaker 2: do a little heart check up first. So let's do
Speaker 2: a little X ray, a spiritual X ray of your
Speaker 2: heart right now. And I've listed there some questions. There
Speaker 2: are ten questions. What I want you to do is
Speaker 2: I want you to circle zero one, two, three, four
Speaker 2: four being really strong about it. Are zero being you know,
Speaker 2: on the on the left handed side, and I want
Speaker 2: you to evaluate. Then we'll add up the points and
Speaker 2: I'll interpret it for you. Know, this is going to
Speaker 2: be a real eye opener for some of you. Okay,
Speaker 2: So number one right now your emotional experience. Do you
Speaker 2: feel more physically exhausted over to the left hand side
Speaker 2: of the column or do you tend to feel right
Speaker 2: now more energetic and in shape? Okay, just give yourself
Speaker 2: a zero, one, two, three four more physically exhausted. Are
Speaker 2: you tending towards that end? Are tending more toward I feel.
Speaker 3: Energetic and in shape. Okay?
Speaker 2: How about the next one right now?
Speaker 3: How are you feeling right now?
Speaker 2: Are you more discouraged and pessimistic about your life, about
Speaker 2: the economy, about your family, or your faith, whatever, or
Speaker 2: are you more encouraged and hopeful? You need to give
Speaker 2: yourself rate yourself on zero, one, two, three, four? Okay
Speaker 2: the number three?
Speaker 3: Right now?
Speaker 2: Are you feeling in your life more bored with your life,
Speaker 2: more discontented with your life? Or are you feeling at
Speaker 2: the other end more challenged and contented? Okay, the next one?
Speaker 3: Right now?
Speaker 2: Do you feel more spiritually dry or spiritually empty or
Speaker 2: do you feel no? I feel spiritually alive and I
Speaker 2: feel like I'm really growing. I'm growing again. How about
Speaker 2: the next In relationships right now? Are you feeling more
Speaker 2: alone a lot of the time or distant from others,
Speaker 2: especially those you love, or are you feeleeling right now
Speaker 2: close to those you love. There's not a lot of
Speaker 2: conflict going on. You feel pretty close to those you love.
Speaker 2: The next one, do you feel more insecure or unsure
Speaker 2: about yourself? Or are you feeling right now, more confident
Speaker 2: and secure because you're you sure? The next one? Are
Speaker 2: you feeling wounded? Are you feeling deeply hurt? Or do
Speaker 2: you feel loved and understood? Give yourself zero to four?
Speaker 2: Next one?
Speaker 3: Right now?
Speaker 2: Do you tend to feel more bitter or angry about
Speaker 2: something that's happened in your life that you've just gone
Speaker 2: through or are you feeling I really have forgiven everybody
Speaker 2: in my life. I'm not holding on to any any
Speaker 2: regrets or any resentments. Next one, where are you on
Speaker 2: the happiness sad continuum? Are you feeling more sad these days?
Speaker 2: Are you feeling more happy these days? And this the last?
Speaker 2: Have you felt recently.
Speaker 3: More like you've failed?
Speaker 2: Or have you felt more recently like you have been
Speaker 2: succeeding at whatever you were doing? Okay, now, what I
Speaker 2: want you to do is just count up that number
Speaker 2: right now and write your score at the bottom, and
Speaker 2: I'm gonna interpret it for you. Okay, So just add
Speaker 2: it all up. Count up all of the ones and
Speaker 2: the twos and the threes and the fours, and add
Speaker 2: it all up. Obviously, if you got all zero's, you
Speaker 2: got zero. If you've got all ones, you've got ten.
Speaker 2: And all twos would be twenty and all fours would
Speaker 2: be forty.
Speaker 3: So you're not gonna have more than forty. So add
Speaker 3: that up.
Speaker 2: Okay, let a doctor Rick give his evaluation.
Speaker 3: I've got a doctorate. Okay, I'm a doctor. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm a doctor. All right, all right, here we go.
Speaker 2: If your total is thirty to forty, you are in
Speaker 2: good shape. You're in really good shape, and you're going
Speaker 2: to be much more resistant to temptation than most people would.
Speaker 3: That's a really good sign.
Speaker 2: If you have between twenty to thirty points, friends, you're
Speaker 2: in serious danger. Really, the yellow lights are flashing in
Speaker 2: your life right now. You need to be aware that
Speaker 2: you are being set up by Satan for a fall,
Speaker 2: because he always hits you when you're down. You just
Speaker 2: need to be aware of that twenty to thirty points.
Speaker 2: If you've got less than twenty points on your score, friend,
Speaker 2: you are in crisis and you don't even know it.
Speaker 2: And you really need to talk to somebody in your
Speaker 2: small group or get a reference for a Christian count
Speaker 2: or somebody. You are in crisis right now and you
Speaker 2: seriously need some support, some.
Speaker 3: Energy in your life now.
Speaker 2: Once you know the when and the how and the
Speaker 2: where and the who and the what, and you know
Speaker 2: all of this, how your heart is going. You need
Speaker 2: to ask yourself, how long have I been at this level?
Speaker 2: The longer you've been at the twenty level, the more
Speaker 2: vulnerable you are, the longer you've been at the condition
Speaker 2: you're in, the more serious it is. Now when you
Speaker 2: mix all of these together, and you mix several of these,
Speaker 2: like frustration and anger and hurt, it is a powerful combo,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden you'll hear somebody start whispering
Speaker 2: in your air. I deserve to have some relief. I
Speaker 2: deserve to have some fun. I deserve to be loved.
Speaker 2: And that's not God whispering in your ear.
Speaker 1: At that moment, you're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope
Speaker 1: Rip will be back in just a moment with the
Speaker 1: rest of today's lesson. You can sign up for Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's free email devotional at pastorick dot com. That's Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com.
Speaker 4: Fall us here now and that means Christmas is right
Speaker 4: around the corner. That's why we want to let you
Speaker 4: know that Pastor Rick and his wife Kay created an
Speaker 4: ADVIC calendar with specially commissioned custom artwork. It's beautiful. This
Speaker 4: two part resource includes a calendar with a special door
Speaker 4: for every day of December that opens to reveal a
Speaker 4: hidden image, and an encouraging Bible verse. Use it with
Speaker 4: a companion daily devotional booklet to help you and your
Speaker 4: family draw closer to Jesus and prepare your heart for
Speaker 4: the real celebration. The Daily Hope Admit Calendar will help
Speaker 4: you spend the holidays worshiping instead of worrying, slowing down
Speaker 4: and reconnecting with God and expressing gratitude for the true
Speaker 4: meaning of this. You'll want to get the Daily Hope
Speaker 4: Admit Calendar and devotional booklet in your hands now to
Speaker 4: start using it on December first. This resource is a
Speaker 4: perfect way to share the gift of Jesus at Christmas
Speaker 4: with your friends and family, and we'll send it to
Speaker 4: you to say thanks when you give a gift to
Speaker 4: Daily Hope to help take good news to people everywhere.
Speaker 4: Quantities are limited, so get yours now. Just call eight
Speaker 4: hundred six hundred five zero zero four or go to
Speaker 4: Fastorrick dot com. That's eight hundred and six hundred and
Speaker 4: five zero zero four, or go to Pastorrick dot com,
Speaker 4: Thanks so very much.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope once again.
Speaker 3: Here's Rick.
Speaker 2: Now, when you mix all of these together, and you
Speaker 2: mix several of these, like frustration and anger and hurt,
Speaker 2: it is a powerful combo. And all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you'll hear somebody start whispering in your air. I deserve
Speaker 2: to have some relief, I deserve to have some fun.
Speaker 2: I deserve to be loved. And that's not God.
Speaker 3: Whispering that in your ear.
Speaker 2: At that moment, you are being tempted and you're being
Speaker 2: set up. And the Bible says this look on the
Speaker 2: back of your outline. It says, do not give the
Speaker 2: devil a foothold. Circle the word foothold. How do you
Speaker 2: give the devil a foothold? What is a foothold. It's
Speaker 2: a mental state. It is a negative emotion. Anytime you
Speaker 2: hold a negative emotion in your life for an extended
Speaker 2: period of time, whether it's anger or worry, or fear,
Speaker 2: or bitterness or envy or jealousy or all of these
Speaker 2: other things, the longer you hold that, you are allowing
Speaker 2: the evil one to get a stronghold in your life
Speaker 2: in your brain. So you've got to guard your heart
Speaker 2: all right. Number four, the fourth thing you need to
Speaker 2: do is you need to pray for deliverance. Pray for deliverance.
Speaker 2: What I mean by that is just ask for God's help.
Speaker 2: And the Bible tells us God is ready to help.
Speaker 2: He says, we're to pray lead us not into temptation,
Speaker 2: but deliver.
Speaker 3: Us from evil.
Speaker 2: That is the prayer of deliverance, and you ask God
Speaker 2: for help. Now, the prayer of deliverance is often just
Speaker 2: one word help, Okay. It doesn't have to be our gracious,
Speaker 2: heavenly Father and knowing no you can do when you
Speaker 2: come to the prayer deliverance.
Speaker 3: You can do a microwave prayer help. Okay.
Speaker 2: You know I'm walking through keep my eyes straight. You
Speaker 2: know I'm going through this time. I don't like this person.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna have to deal with that clerk who's a jerk.
Speaker 2: And I do not want to get impatient. I do
Speaker 2: not want to get angry. I do not like the
Speaker 2: way my relative treats me. And I'm gonna see them today,
Speaker 2: and oh God, you.
Speaker 3: Got to help me.
Speaker 2: Because I just I lose my Christianity when I'm right
Speaker 2: on that person and God, I really need your help
Speaker 2: today because everything in me just wants me to slugger
Speaker 2: you know, or him or whatever. You know, You just
Speaker 2: that relative out there who just irritates you no end, okay,
Speaker 2: And so you pray for deliverance. Now. The Bible is
Speaker 2: full of examples of people who prayed for deliverance David, Daniel, Peter, Paul.
Speaker 2: And God provided provides assistance for anybody who asks, why
Speaker 2: can I expect God to help me when I pray
Speaker 2: the prayer of deliverance? Because God has promised it. Look
Speaker 2: at this verse Psalm fifty, verse fifteen. Call upon me
Speaker 2: in your day of trouble. I will deliver you and
Speaker 2: you will honor me. God says, you don't have to
Speaker 2: have a long conversation. You can just say, Hell, may day,
Speaker 2: may day, may day, sos God, I'm facing something now
Speaker 2: that will powers not a to keep me being nice
Speaker 2: to this person or whatever. God, I need to pray
Speaker 2: the prayer of deliverance. And you know what, God's sympathetic
Speaker 2: to your situation. He knows everything that's going on in
Speaker 2: your life. He knows how irritating those people are. He
Speaker 2: knows the things that tempt you in fact, look at
Speaker 2: this next verse. Jesus understands our weakness, for he faced
Speaker 2: all of the same temptations we do, yet he did
Speaker 2: not sin. So let us come boldly to our gracious God,
Speaker 2: and then we will receive his mercy and grace to
Speaker 2: help us when we need it. Notice, he says, Jesus
Speaker 2: understands why is he sympathetic? Notice he faced the same temptation.
Speaker 2: Underline that Jesus faced the same temptation. Wait a minute,
Speaker 2: You saying Jesus was tempted to get angry.
Speaker 3: Yes, I am.
Speaker 2: You're telling me Jesus it was tempted to have self pity. Yes,
Speaker 2: you're telling him that Jesus had sexual temptations. Absolutely, you're
Speaker 2: telling me that Jesus sometimes was fatigued and tempted to
Speaker 2: be cranky. Absolutely every basic temptation. The Bible says he
Speaker 2: was tempted in all ways like as we Yet he
Speaker 2: said not.
Speaker 3: That's the difference. He never gave in.
Speaker 2: And so he had the freedom to choose. How do
Speaker 2: we know that Jesus had the freedom to choose? I mean,
Speaker 2: didn't he just have to be perfect because he was God?
Speaker 3: No, he didn't. He had the freedom to choose.
Speaker 2: That's why even at the cross the night before he's
Speaker 2: going to be crucified, he's thinking, I don't want to
Speaker 2: be crucified. I don't want to go through all that
Speaker 2: thing and in the garden against him, and he's praying
Speaker 2: and he's struggling with it, and he says, Father.
Speaker 3: Not my will, not my will, but yours be done.
Speaker 3: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: Jesus had a choice, and he suffered the same temptations
Speaker 2: we do in life, and so he understands. And in
Speaker 2: John six thirty eight he says, I didn't come to
Speaker 2: do my will. I came to do the will of
Speaker 2: the Father. So he was God in a human body.
Speaker 2: But even better is that he never sinned. What does
Speaker 2: that mean he can help you overcome? And so the
Speaker 2: Bible says, come boldly to God, Come and say, mayday, Sos,
Speaker 2: I need your help. God isn't ticked with you when
Speaker 2: you get tempted. He's not gonna scold you when you
Speaker 2: tempt me. He said, I'm ready here to help. So
Speaker 2: I pray for deliverance. And then number five, this is
Speaker 2: the real key on the six steps on the path
Speaker 2: to escape. I turn my attention elsewhere. I turn my
Speaker 2: attention elsewhere. I change the direction of my thoughts. I
Speaker 2: refocus on something else, I shift my attention. If you're
Speaker 2: watching something on TV you don't like, you don't sit
Speaker 2: there and go I'm not gonna listen. I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: list I'm not gonna listen. I Am not gonna listen. No,
Speaker 2: you just poop flip the channel.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so happy
Speaker 1: that you've chosen to study along with us today. If
Speaker 1: you'd like to receive rix free daily devotional, go to
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com and sign up right now. Rick will
Speaker 1: be back to close out our time in just a moment.
Speaker 1: But first Fall is here, and that means Christmas is
Speaker 1: right around the corner. That's why we want to let
Speaker 1: you know that Pastor Rick and his wife Kay created
Speaker 1: an advent calendar with specially commissioned custom artwork. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1: This two part resource includes a calendar with a special
Speaker 1: door for every day of December that opens to reveal
Speaker 1: a hidden image, and an encouraging Bible verse. Use it
Speaker 1: with the Companion Daily Devotional booklet to help you and
Speaker 1: your family draw closer to Jesus and prepare your heart
Speaker 1: for the real celebration. The Daily Hope Advent Calendar will
Speaker 1: help you spend the holidays worshiping instead of worrying, slowing
Speaker 1: down and reconnecting with God and expressing gratitude for the
Speaker 1: true meaning of the season. You'll want to get the
Speaker 1: Daily Hope Advent Calendar and devotional booklet in your hands
Speaker 1: now to start using it on December first. This resource
Speaker 1: is a perfect way to share the gift of Jesus
Speaker 1: at Christmas with your friends and family, and we'll send
Speaker 1: it to you to say thanks when you give a
Speaker 1: gift to Daily Hope to help take the good news
Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ to people everywhere. Quantities are limited, so
Speaker 1: get yours now. Call eight hundred six hundred five thousand
Speaker 1: and four to support Daily Hope and will send you
Speaker 1: this powerful resource. Or you can visit Pastororrick dot com.
Speaker 1: That's eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com. Here's Pastor Rick with the letter from
Speaker 1: one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: You know, I've often said that I'm addicted to change
Speaker 2: lives is what keeps me going. One good story from
Speaker 2: you can keep me going for another month. To hear
Speaker 2: how God's working in your life. It just keeps me motivated.
Speaker 2: So you bless me with your stories. Here's one that
Speaker 2: came from a woman named Tania who's a brand new believer.
Speaker 2: She wrote, Pastor Rick, I'm a new person in Christ
Speaker 2: and I'm learning more and more every day. My supervisor
Speaker 2: here at work came in about a week ago and
Speaker 2: told me about your Daily Hope devotional and your broadcast.
Speaker 2: I am now hooked. Listening to Daily Hope each morning
Speaker 2: has become a blessing to my soul. It's really helped
Speaker 2: me to implement the Word of God in my daily life. Well, Tania,
Speaker 2: this is why we do what we do. This is
Speaker 2: why we do Daily Hope for people like you, people
Speaker 2: who want to grow, who desire to grow, and who
Speaker 2: take the time to grow by getting into God's way
Speaker 2: word on a daily basis. Now, I want you to
Speaker 2: notice something about Tania's story. She didn't find the Daily
Speaker 2: Hope broadcast or podcast on her own. It was her
Speaker 2: co worker who told her about Daily Hope. Who have
Speaker 2: you told you may have been listening to Daily Hope
Speaker 2: for weeks or months or even longer. Would you be
Speaker 2: an agent of love? And an agent of hope, and
Speaker 2: tell four or five people this week. Look for somebody today,
Speaker 2: send an email, write a text, call somebody in a
Speaker 2: phone and say this has helped me in my spiritual
Speaker 2: life and I want to pass it on to you
Speaker 2: that Daily Hope can help you grow in your faith
Speaker 2: and in your walk in Christ. Thanks for listening today.
Speaker 2: Be sure to join me next time as we continue
Speaker 2: to look into God's word for our daily hope and
Speaker 2: tell somebody about it.
Speaker 3: God bless you.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support