Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: We are so glad you're here with us.
Speaker 2: Today.
Speaker 1: We're going to continue our series called The Keys to
Speaker 1: a Blessed Life. And when these messages, Rick walks through
Speaker 1: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and shows us how to
Speaker 1: live a truly hopeful and purpose filled life. And now
Speaker 1: here's the final part of God blesses a heart of integrity.
Speaker 3: Imagine how the world would be changed if every Christian
Speaker 3: there are two billion of us in the world, two
Speaker 3: point three billion. What if every Christian went to work
Speaker 3: on Monday morning with integrity and said, you know what,
Speaker 3: I don't care if everybody goofs off. I don't care
Speaker 3: if everybody slacks off. I don't care if everybody's just
Speaker 3: saying that's good enough for government work. I don't care
Speaker 3: what everybody else thinks. I'm going to work hard, work cheerfully,
Speaker 3: and do it give it my best shot. What if
Speaker 3: Christians gained the reputation that people said we only hire Christians. Why,
Speaker 3: because they're the best workers. They work with integrity, they
Speaker 3: put in the extra effort, they do, they go the
Speaker 3: second mile, they're honest, They don't cheat, they're not lazy.
Speaker 2: They work.
Speaker 3: What kind of witness would we have in the world
Speaker 3: if we were all like that? Let me give you
Speaker 3: one more, anyone become You become a person of integrity
Speaker 3: by being real with others. You become a person of
Speaker 3: integrity by being real with others. You don't fake it.
Speaker 3: You are yourself. You don't pretend. It's what we were
Speaker 3: talking about earlier. You're authentic, you're genuine. You're not a
Speaker 3: hoop of crete dose. You don't wear a mask and
Speaker 3: talk a certain way with this group and then go
Speaker 3: over here and wear another mask and act a certain
Speaker 3: way with this group. And you don't act one way
Speaker 3: in church and one way at work, and then another
Speaker 3: way in the golf course or when you're playing shooting
Speaker 3: some hoops or whatever. No, you're always the same. You're
Speaker 3: not perfect, you're not sinless. It's not that you don't
Speaker 3: make mistakes. You do make mistakes, but your heart's in
Speaker 3: the right direction, and you are real with other people.
Speaker 3: You're not a phony, you're not a fake. You're not
Speaker 3: trying to be something that you're not really. Tewod Corinthians
Speaker 3: four to two says this, we refuse to wear masks.
Speaker 3: We refuse to play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate
Speaker 3: behind the scenes, and we don't twist God's word to
Speaker 3: suit ourselves. In other words, we say, well, I think
Speaker 3: this means this when we just don't like what it says. Rather,
Speaker 3: we keep everything we do and say out in the open.
Speaker 3: Your life is an open book. You're authentic. What you
Speaker 3: see is what you get. You are not a phony,
Speaker 3: You're not a fake. You're into integrity, not into image. Now,
Speaker 3: in a word, the world that is absolutely obsessed with
Speaker 3: appearance and with image. How in the world do you
Speaker 3: keep it real when everybody else is faking it, and
Speaker 3: everybody else is trying to live an image, be an
Speaker 3: image and act like they know this and do that,
Speaker 3: and they don't have integrity, and they're they're scooting by,
Speaker 3: and they're skimming, and they're cheating, and they're doing all
Speaker 3: they're not keeping their promises and all those things. How
Speaker 3: in the world do you keep it real? There's only
Speaker 3: one way. It's only one way. You've got to care
Speaker 3: more about God's approval than the approval of other people.
Speaker 3: That's the only way you'll ever become a man of integrity.
Speaker 3: That's the only way you'll ever come become a woman
Speaker 3: of integrity, because if you care about what God thinks,
Speaker 3: then you're going to do the right thing. If you
Speaker 3: care about what other people think, you're going to typically
Speaker 3: often do the wrong thing because what God thinks is
Speaker 3: sometimes I'm popular, sometimes it's difficult. The only way you
Speaker 3: can maintain integrity is to care more about God's approval,
Speaker 3: well done, good and faithful servant than to care about
Speaker 3: the approval of other people. PSOne nineteen nine says this,
Speaker 3: how can I keep my way pure? Blessed are the
Speaker 3: pure in heart? They get to see God? How can
Speaker 3: I keep How do I live a life of integrity?
Speaker 3: By living according to your word? You must stay in
Speaker 3: this book. And if you don't stay in this book,
Speaker 3: you will not have the strength and the stamina to
Speaker 3: live with integrity. I've said it many times that if
Speaker 3: I don't have a daily time with God in the Word,
Speaker 3: if I don't have a daily quiet time, and if
Speaker 3: I miss it for a few days, I notice it
Speaker 3: because I start getting cranky if I'm not in the Word.
Speaker 3: If I don't have a quiet time for a week.
Speaker 2: My wife notices it. If I didn't have a quiet time.
Speaker 3: For a month, you would know notice it because I
Speaker 3: would not have any power, spiritual power to clearly explain
Speaker 3: the word of God to you.
Speaker 2: You got to stand the word now.
Speaker 3: This message today, it's been tough for me to share
Speaker 3: and tough for you to hear.
Speaker 2: It's tough message because when.
Speaker 3: I go through this checklist and I go down this
Speaker 3: list of six things, I'm thinking of my own mind
Speaker 3: fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm just going, oh my, and I'm not really feeling
Speaker 3: that good about it.
Speaker 2: But here's the good point.
Speaker 3: Saint Augustine said this, the confession of bad works is
Speaker 3: the beginning of good works. And so if you are
Speaker 3: serious about becoming a woman of integrity, if you are
Speaker 3: serious about becoming a man of integrity, the first step
Speaker 3: is to own up that you haven't had integrity and
Speaker 3: just admit it. I haven't Okay, I admit it. God,
Speaker 3: I don't always keep my promises.
Speaker 2: I admit it.
Speaker 3: God, I don't always pay my bills on time. I
Speaker 3: admit it that I often gossip and I like it
Speaker 3: and it's a juicy morsel to chew on it, and God,
Speaker 3: I admit it. That I've been spending your money. I've
Speaker 3: been robbing. God, I've been using the Tide to pay
Speaker 3: my own bills. I've lacked integrity there, and I admit it.
Speaker 3: I don't always do my best at work. Sometimes I
Speaker 3: just slack off. Sometimes I take a little extra time
Speaker 3: running some errands, and sometimes I don't put in the
Speaker 3: full amount and I don't do my best, and I've
Speaker 3: taken some supplies home and I just it's in the
Speaker 3: little things that Tom talked about. And there's been a
Speaker 3: lot of times, Lord, I'm not really real with people.
Speaker 3: I fake it and I don't pretend. I do pretend
Speaker 3: I don't really be who I and I'm a phony.
Speaker 3: I wear a mask some of the times out of
Speaker 3: my own insecurities, and God, I admit it.
Speaker 2: I have segmented my life.
Speaker 3: And I've said I've acted this way here, and I've
Speaker 3: acted this way here, and I've acted this way and
Speaker 3: know this little sex life over here, this is just
Speaker 3: my little habit over here, and this over here, this
Speaker 3: is my little secret over here, and this over here
Speaker 3: this is my and I just keep them all separate.
Speaker 3: And it goes back to that thing about the Titanic
Speaker 3: myth that I should share that with you.
Speaker 2: They talk about the Titanic myth.
Speaker 3: The Titanic myth is this myth that you can segment
Speaker 3: your life and it'll keep you afloat. The Titanic was
Speaker 3: supposed to be the first unsinkable ship because it was
Speaker 3: the first ship that they ever segmented the hull. Previous
Speaker 3: and prior to the Titanic, all holes of a boat
Speaker 3: were just one open hall. And so if you were
Speaker 3: out in a boat and you hit a rock or
Speaker 3: another boat or an iceberg, and you knocked a hole
Speaker 3: in the boat, then water would flood in. It would
Speaker 3: fill up the whole hole, and the ship would sink.
Speaker 3: The Titanic was the first ship to actually segment and
Speaker 3: compartmentalize the hull. And they said, you know, theoretically, it's
Speaker 3: kind of like we do with submarines today. You segment
Speaker 3: the submarine. So if you take on water in a
Speaker 3: certain area, you can batten down the hatch. And the
Speaker 3: idea is you could take on a certain amount of
Speaker 3: water and it won't sh sink the whole ship. And
Speaker 3: theoretically that's true. The folks, when it comes to life,
Speaker 3: you're like a hole in the boat is a hole
Speaker 3: in the boat is a hole in the boat, and
Speaker 3: eventually it's going to sink you. And that little area
Speaker 3: you think you've got under control over here, it isn't
Speaker 3: under control, and it's going to take you down. Now,
Speaker 3: If you and I go out and we go fishing,
Speaker 3: and you're sitting at one end of the boat and
Speaker 3: I'm sitting at the other end of the boat, and I
Speaker 3: pull out a drill, a wood drill, and I start
Speaker 3: drilling a hole in my end of the boat, You're
Speaker 3: gonna get concerned and say, Rick, what are you doing.
Speaker 3: You're gonna take us down. And this is a typical
Speaker 3: response today. Hey, it's my life. Nobody has a right
Speaker 3: to tell me what I do with my life.
Speaker 2: I can handle it. I'm a grown adult.
Speaker 3: I can sin and get away with It's none of
Speaker 3: your business what I do.
Speaker 2: With my life.
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, but it is my business what you do
Speaker 3: with your life. Because we're all in the same boat.
Speaker 3: It's called earth, and we're all in this together, and
Speaker 3: you cannot sin and it not affect other people. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: you just don't understand how it works. The truth is,
Speaker 3: this is gonna be very profound, but It's said in
Speaker 3: a very simple way. Sin may be personal, but it
Speaker 3: is never private. My sin may be personal, did it,
Speaker 3: but it's never private. Even if you don't ever know
Speaker 3: about the sins in my life, they affect you husbands.
Speaker 3: Even if your wife never knows about the sins in
Speaker 3: your life, they affect her wives. Even if your husbands
Speaker 3: don't know about the sins of your life, they affect him,
Speaker 3: and they affect your kids.
Speaker 2: And we affect each other.
Speaker 3: You cannot do anything in life with outout affecting each other.
Speaker 3: And so the idea of it's none of my business
Speaker 3: is just stupid. It is your business. It is my
Speaker 3: business because we affect each other. And even if some
Speaker 3: people never even know about something in my life, it's
Speaker 3: still going to affect them in different ways because of
Speaker 3: the blessing of God or the removal of blessing of
Speaker 3: God on my life and on your life. The Bible says,
Speaker 3: be sure your sins will find you out.
Speaker 2: Now. This is why friends, we need a savior.
Speaker 3: Okay, what we just talked about today, this is why
Speaker 3: you need a savior. This is why we need the Cross,
Speaker 3: this is why we need grace, This is why we
Speaker 3: need forgiveness. Why because none of us measure up, none
Speaker 3: of us are perfect. The Bible says, there's not a
Speaker 3: just man on the earth who always does what is
Speaker 3: right and never does what is wrong. The Bible says,
Speaker 3: we have all sinned, and we have all fallen short.
Speaker 3: So each of us have our own unique falling shorts.
Speaker 3: You have your falling shorts, and I have my falling shorts.
Speaker 3: But thank God, he forgives all our falling shorts, all
Speaker 3: of sin and fallen short of the glory of God.
Speaker 3: This is why you need grace, You need a savior,
Speaker 3: because there's no way I can measure up to God's perfection.
Speaker 3: There's no way you can't either. God doesn't expect you
Speaker 3: to be perfect. He does expect you to have integrity,
Speaker 3: which means you own up. And the starting point to
Speaker 3: be a man of God or a woman of God
Speaker 3: is to say, I admit it, I just don't have
Speaker 3: integer in some of these areas. What really matters is
Speaker 3: the direction of your heart. You know, friends, I don't
Speaker 3: always do it right. Your pastor is a very flawed individual.
Speaker 3: I don't always get it right. I make a lot
Speaker 3: of mistakes. I sin, I I'm not always unselfish. I
Speaker 3: want to be, but I'm not. I'm not always kind
Speaker 3: to everybody. I want to be, but i'm not. I
Speaker 3: don't always keep my promises. I want to, but i'm not.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't always do my best in everything that I do.
Speaker 3: I want to, but I don't. And I look at
Speaker 3: all I don't always. I don't want to gossip. I
Speaker 3: don't want to listen to us, but sometimes I do.
Speaker 3: But in the deepest part of my heart, in spite
Speaker 3: of my own sinfulness, I want to do the right
Speaker 3: thing and I want to be a man of integrity. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: God looks down on Rick Warrant, and when he looks
Speaker 3: at me, he doesn't say, what a screw up, what
Speaker 3: a failure. He ought to know better than that. Why
Speaker 3: did he still fall for that one?
Speaker 2: Instead?
Speaker 3: God looks down and says, there's a guy who has
Speaker 3: a heart for me, and I'm gonna bless him. I'll
Speaker 3: say it again, God is more interested in your heart
Speaker 3: than your sins. You're never gonna be perfect, you're never
Speaker 3: gonna be sinless, but you can sin less.
Speaker 2: You got it, get it good.
Speaker 3: You're never going to be sinless, but you can sin less.
Speaker 3: And that is a choice, and it is a choice
Speaker 3: of integrity, and it starts by saying to God, God,
Speaker 3: I don't always.
Speaker 2: Keep my promises, but I want to. God.
Speaker 3: I don't always pay my bills, but I want to. God,
Speaker 3: I don't always I haven't refused gossip. I've listened to it,
Speaker 3: but I don't want that anymore. God, I don't want
Speaker 3: to rob you of money that's yours. As an active integrity,
Speaker 3: I want to tie then, God, I don't always do
Speaker 3: what's best at work, and I don't always give it
Speaker 3: my best shot, but I want to and that's my direction.
Speaker 3: And God, I have to admit I'm not real a
Speaker 3: lot of times. A lot of times I'm faking it.
Speaker 3: I'm living insecurely again. It's because of insecurity comes from
Speaker 3: a lack of integrity. When you come to God and say, God,
Speaker 3: this is my heart and I really want it to
Speaker 3: be in this, then God could say about you like
Speaker 3: he did about David. Remember the guy who committed adultery
Speaker 3: and murder. There's a guy after my own heart. He
Speaker 3: looked past all the mistakes that had been made, and
Speaker 3: he looked at the direction of David's sarpsis The guy's
Speaker 3: got a good heart. He's going in the right direction.
Speaker 3: He wants to do the right thing, and that comes
Speaker 3: from the power and the grace of God. Let's bower heads.
Speaker 3: I'm going to pray a prayer and you can just
Speaker 3: follow me in it. Make it your prayer. To God,
Speaker 3: To Jesus Christ, I thank you that you were sinless,
Speaker 3: you never sinned, You were the ultimate example of integrity,
Speaker 3: and so you could pay the price for all my sins.
Speaker 3: Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Just
Speaker 3: say that in your mind, Thank you for dying on
Speaker 3: the cross for me, for paying.
Speaker 2: All my sins.
Speaker 3: There is no way God that I can measure up
Speaker 3: to your standard of perfection. And that's why I need
Speaker 3: your grace, and that's why I need your forgiveness, and
Speaker 3: that's why I need your salvation. And Jesus, thank you
Speaker 3: for loving me enough to pay for all my sins.
Speaker 3: The confession of bad works is the beginning of good work.
Speaker 3: So why don't you just have a little confession time
Speaker 3: with God? Why don't you say, God, I admit that
Speaker 3: I don't always keep my promises, but I want to.
Speaker 3: And God, I admit that I've spent more money than
Speaker 3: I make, and I've got myself really deeply in debt,
Speaker 3: and I haven't paid off all my debts, but I
Speaker 3: want to. And I ask you to help me to
Speaker 3: stop spending more than I make so I can start
Speaker 3: paying off my debts and be a person of integrity.
Speaker 2: And God, I.
Speaker 3: Admit that I have gossiped, I have shared secrets, I've
Speaker 3: listened to gossip. I've slandered other people, and I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: I don't want to be that way. And God, I
Speaker 3: haven't put you first in my money. I've paid everything
Speaker 3: except my tithe. I put you in last place, not first.
Speaker 3: As an act of integrity, I'm going to start tithing.
Speaker 3: And God, I admit that I don't always do my best,
Speaker 3: and I don't always work hard cheerfully. A lot of
Speaker 3: time I just slack off because I don't really like
Speaker 3: my job.
Speaker 2: Some days.
Speaker 3: Help me to remember that whether anybody else notices what
Speaker 3: I do, you notice. Help me to do my work
Speaker 3: with excellence, with quality, and with integrity, knowing that I'm
Speaker 3: working for you as my real boss. And God, I
Speaker 3: need you to give me the courage to be real
Speaker 3: with other people. I'm tired of wearing masks. I'm tired
Speaker 3: of playing games. I'm tired of maneuvering and manipulating behind
Speaker 3: the scenes. I want to live my life as an
Speaker 3: open book, not perfect, not sinless, but authentic and whole.
Speaker 3: I want today, Jesus Christ, to commit to becoming a
Speaker 3: man or a woman of integrity. I want a pure
Speaker 3: heart that you can bless.
Speaker 2: Help me to.
Speaker 3: Stand the word every day, that it is your word
Speaker 3: that keeps me pure. If you've never invited Jesus Christ
Speaker 3: to forgive all your sins and to be the savior
Speaker 3: in the Lord of your life, say Jesus Christ, I
Speaker 3: don't understand it all, but I want to thank you
Speaker 3: for dying for my sins.
Speaker 2: And I ask you to be come.
Speaker 3: The leader, the Lord, the manager, the boss of my life.
Speaker 2: And I want your purpose and peace and plan and power.
Speaker 2: And I humbly ask this in your name. Amen.
Speaker 1: If you just prayed to receive Jesus congratulations, we would
Speaker 1: love to send you some free materials to help you
Speaker 1: along on your spiritual journey. Just email Rick at pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com. I've got
Speaker 1: some great news to share with you today. We've got
Speaker 1: some generous friends of Daily Hope that have offered a
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars matching grant. And now here's rick to
Speaker 1: tell you more about it.
Speaker 3: You know, I just want to take a quick second
Speaker 3: to say thank you everybody. Because of your generosity, we're
Speaker 3: able to take the hope of Jesus Christ into places
Speaker 3: where there are no Bibles, no believers, and nobody of Christ,
Speaker 3: no churches at all. Now, as you pray about giving,
Speaker 3: I want to ask you to ask God about sending
Speaker 3: a gift that's the largest you're able to give, because
Speaker 3: at this point of the year, we have a donor
Speaker 3: who is offered to match your gift. That means what
Speaker 3: you give will be doubled. We get twice the bang
Speaker 3: for the buck, in other words, So please respond quickly
Speaker 3: and a give in such a way that we can
Speaker 3: maximize it through this matching gift. And I want to
Speaker 3: ask you this, would you pray for us at Daily Hope,
Speaker 3: Pray as we reach out to people around the globe
Speaker 3: with hope that people will find Christ by the thousands
Speaker 3: and tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. So thank
Speaker 3: you for being a partner with me to getting the
Speaker 3: message out.
Speaker 4: You know when you give a gift to Daily Hope,
Speaker 4: you're helping share the hope of Jesus with people everywhere,
Speaker 4: and during the month of June, your gift will be
Speaker 4: doubled by the fifty thousand dollars matching grant. Go to
Speaker 4: Pastorick dot com or text the word hope to seven
Speaker 4: oh three oh nine. Again, that's Pastorick dot com. Or
Speaker 4: just text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine.
Speaker 1: We hope you'll join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 1: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.