Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the
Speaker 1: Bible teaching ministry that's here to encourage and inspire you
Speaker 1: every day. And today we're continuing our series called Awesome Relationships.
Speaker 1: In it, Rick Warren shaars practical ways to help you
Speaker 1: take your relationships with family, friends, co workers, and even
Speaker 1: God from ordinary to extraordinary. And this is a series
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss. All right, let's join Rick
Speaker 1: now for part one of a message called six Keys
Speaker 1: to Peace in Relationships.
Speaker 2: Now, there was a pastor this last week who will
Speaker 2: remain unnamed to protect the guilty, and he went over
Speaker 2: to visit an elderly woman in our church. She had
Speaker 2: lost her husband a number of years ago. She's in
Speaker 2: her eighties. And he went over to just pay her visit.
Speaker 2: And as he sat there in her living room, is
Speaker 2: right around lunchtime, and it's kind of how hungry, and
Speaker 2: she had a big bowl of peanuts, and as they talked,
Speaker 2: he ate one, and of course she can't eat just one,
Speaker 2: and he started eating more and more, and when they
Speaker 2: finally finished, he realized he'd eaten the entire bowl of peanuts.
Speaker 2: He felt a little embarrassed by it, and he said
Speaker 2: to this elderly woman, He said, you know, I'm really
Speaker 2: sorry I've eaten all your peanuts. And she said, oh,
Speaker 2: don't worry. Past She said, I can't show on him.
Speaker 2: After I've sucked the chocolate off, he said, you know,
Speaker 2: I felt a little foolish. Now. We all do foolish
Speaker 2: things from time to time, usually unintentionally, sometimes intentionally. You'd
Speaker 2: have a lot fewer problems if you were less foolish
Speaker 2: and more wise. Wisdom doesn't get rid of your problems,
Speaker 2: but wisdom definitely minimizes your problems. You know how to
Speaker 2: respond wisely the situations your problems will be dramatically reduced
Speaker 2: in your life. It's all about wisdom, knowing how to
Speaker 2: handle things and not be foolish. Now. Nowhere are we
Speaker 2: more foolish than in our relationships. We foolishly treat people
Speaker 2: in ways that are really counterproductive. In fact, a lot
Speaker 2: of times we provoke people to do the very behavior
Speaker 2: we don't want. We foolishly think this is how I'm
Speaker 2: going to get what I need out of this relationship.
Speaker 2: More fulfillment, more intimacy, more joy, more satisfaction, more stability.
Speaker 2: I need my relationships to be fulfilling, not draining. But
Speaker 2: actually the things you do are often counterproductive. They are foolish,
Speaker 2: they are not wise, because if you do what you
Speaker 2: naturally feel like doing in a relationship, it's almost always
Speaker 2: the wrong thing. Said, wisdom doesn't eliminate problems, but it
Speaker 2: definitely does reduce them. Now, the classic passage on wisdom
Speaker 2: and relationships is in the Book of James, chapter three,
Speaker 2: verses thirteen to eighteen. Let me read it to you.
Speaker 2: It's there on your outline, it's here on the screen.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this, if you are wise and you
Speaker 2: understand God's ways, you'll live a life of steady goodness,
Speaker 2: so that only good deeds pour forth. And if you
Speaker 2: don't brag about the good you do, then you will
Speaker 2: be truly wise. But if you are bitterly jealous and
Speaker 2: there's selfish ambition in your heart, don't brag about being wise.
Speaker 2: That's the worst kind of lie. For jealousy and selfishness
Speaker 2: are not God's kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly
Speaker 2: and unspiritual, and motivated by the devil. For wherever there
Speaker 2: is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder. Now,
Speaker 2: let me just stop right there. You got any chaos
Speaker 2: in your life, got any disorder in your life, Got
Speaker 2: any area of your life that's confused. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: wherever you find confusion, wherever you find this harmony, wherever
Speaker 2: you find this order, there's ego. There's ego. Whether it's
Speaker 2: an office or at home or at school. He says,
Speaker 2: wherever you find jealousy and selfish ambition, you'll find disorder
Speaker 2: in every kind of evil. Now, wisdom, the kind of
Speaker 2: wisdom that comes from heaven, is first of all pure.
Speaker 2: It's also peace loving, gentle at all times, willing to
Speaker 2: yield to others. It's full of mercy and good deeds.
Speaker 2: It shows no partiality, and it's always sincere. Now, those
Speaker 2: who are peacemakers he's talking about in relationships. Those who
Speaker 2: are peacemakers plant seeds of peace, and they reap a
Speaker 2: harvest of goodness. Now, these verses teach us a whole
Speaker 2: lot about relationships that you're not going to learn anywhere
Speaker 2: else in life. First, the Bible teaches us that wisdom
Speaker 2: is a way of relating. It has to do with
Speaker 2: what you do, not what you think. A lot of
Speaker 2: people think wisdom is intelligence. Wisdom is smart. Wisdom is education.
Speaker 2: No no, no no. The world is full of educated fools.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that wisdom shows up primarily in your relationships.
Speaker 2: You may have all kinds of knowledge and still be
Speaker 2: a fool. You may have all kinds of education, so
Speaker 2: many degrees they call you doctor Fahrenheit, but you to
Speaker 2: still be foolish. You can have all kinds of brilliance
Speaker 2: and be technically smart, but wisdom shows up in relationships.
Speaker 2: So why you can take a brilliant scientist whose family
Speaker 2: life is a mess. He may be smart, but he's
Speaker 2: not wise. Wisdom always has to do with relationships, and
Speaker 2: it shows up in how you treat other people. In
Speaker 2: other words, it's about your life, not your lips. It's
Speaker 2: about what you do, not what you say. Say. It's
Speaker 2: not about your diploma, it's about your disposition. And in
Speaker 2: verse fourteen to sixteen, it says, you know the way
Speaker 2: we typically relate to people, He said, those ways are foolish.
Speaker 2: When we get bitter, when we get angry, when we
Speaker 2: get resentful, when we get jealous, when we get selfish
Speaker 2: and ambitious in relationships, he does, all those are foolish
Speaker 2: ways that don't get you what you want and what
Speaker 2: you need out of the relationship. In verse eighteen, it
Speaker 2: says those who plant, those who are peacemakers, plant seeds
Speaker 2: of peace and reap a harvest of goodness. Every day
Speaker 2: in every relationship, you are planting seeds. Let's say it again,
Speaker 2: every day, in every relationship, you are planting seeds, and
Speaker 2: you're going to reap what you sew. Now you're planting
Speaker 2: either seeds of trust or distrust. You're planting seeds of
Speaker 2: anger or peace, planting seeds of love or harmony. You're
Speaker 2: planting seeds in every relationship in your life, every single day.
Speaker 2: The question is what kinds of seeds? How do I
Speaker 2: plant seeds of peace? And the answer is, I got
Speaker 2: to be wise. I've got to be wise. I've got
Speaker 2: to do it the wise way. Now what we're gonna
Speaker 2: do today is we're gonna look at this passage because
Speaker 2: it teaches us the six things that wise people never
Speaker 2: do in relationships. And I've done every one of them,
Speaker 2: and so have you. And they are foolish approaches to
Speaker 2: your relationships. Your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your husband, your wife,
Speaker 2: your friends, your boss, your employees, the neighbors. These are
Speaker 2: six things that wise people never do, and in verse seventeen,
Speaker 2: James gives us a checklist. These are the foundations of
Speaker 2: healthy relationships. Now in the Future series eight weeks, we're
Speaker 2: going to look at the crazy makers in your life.
Speaker 2: How to diffuse, deflect, and defend yourself against the crazy makers.
Speaker 2: But in any relationship, half the problem is you. It's
Speaker 2: how you respond. And when you respond incorrectly to the
Speaker 2: crazy makers in your life, you actually make it worse.
Speaker 2: So let's get right into it. Foundations of healthy relationship.
Speaker 2: Six things wise people will never do in relationships. Number one. First,
Speaker 2: the Bible says that wisdom, if I want to be wise,
Speaker 2: wisdom that comes from Heaven, is first of all pure.
Speaker 2: Now circle that word pure. What's he mean by this
Speaker 2: word pure? It means uncorrupted, clean, unpolluted, clear, untainted. What's
Speaker 2: he talking about. The word we use today is the
Speaker 2: word integrity. He's talking about integrity, and he's saying, the
Speaker 2: foundation of all good relationship is integrity. Now, why is
Speaker 2: integrity listened first? Because wisdom starts in the heart, not
Speaker 2: in the head. And the reason integrity is listed first
Speaker 2: is this. All relationships are built on trust. No trust,
Speaker 2: no relationship and all trust is built on truth. If
Speaker 2: you don't have truth, you don't have trust. If you
Speaker 2: don't have trust, you don't have a relationship. If a
Speaker 2: guy's lying to his wife all the time, he may
Speaker 2: have an arrangement, but he doesn't have a relationship. He
Speaker 2: may have a commitment, but he doesn't have a relationship.
Speaker 2: Because relationships are built on truth, because truth is the
Speaker 2: foundation of trust. Honesty is the bedrock of all relationships.
Speaker 2: You gotta be honest, you gotta shoot straight with people.
Speaker 2: If you're just lying to the people in your life,
Speaker 2: you don't have a relationship. You've probably never heard of
Speaker 2: Leonard Keeler, but Leonard Keeler is a pretty famous guy.
Speaker 2: Doctor Leonard Keeler invented the lie detector, and during his
Speaker 2: lifetime he tested over twenty five thousand people on the
Speaker 2: light detector. He wrote a book about it. His conclusion,
Speaker 2: we all lie well duh, He says, human beings are
Speaker 2: fundamentally and by nature dishonest. You light to God, you
Speaker 2: light to other people, and you lie to yourself all
Speaker 2: the time. In fact, you lie to you more than
Speaker 2: anybody else. We have the amazing ability to tell ourselves
Speaker 2: things that aren't true and convince ourselves that they are.
Speaker 2: You lie to yourself all the time, the Bible says,
Speaker 2: the heart is deceitful. That means we have an amazing
Speaker 2: ability to con ourselves. We think things are right when
Speaker 2: they're not, and we think things are not right when
Speaker 2: they are. And so he says, you got to start
Speaker 2: with integrity. The Bible says in Ephesians, look up here
Speaker 2: on the screen Ephesians four to twenty five. You must
Speaker 2: stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth, because we
Speaker 2: all belong to each other in the same body. Now
Speaker 2: Here is the first mark of wisdom. If you want
Speaker 2: your relationships to get better, this summer Number one is this.
Speaker 2: If I want to be wise in my relationships, I
Speaker 2: won't compromise my integrity. I won't compromise my integrity. I
Speaker 2: won't violate my conscience. I won't compromise my convictions. I
Speaker 2: won't live a double life. I won't lie to you.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you the truth. Because trust is built on truth.
Speaker 2: No truth, no trust, no trust, no relationship. Proverbs two,
Speaker 2: verse seven says this there on your outline, God grants
Speaker 2: a treasure of good sense. And by the way, that's
Speaker 2: what you need. In relationships. You need a treasury of
Speaker 2: good sense. God grants a treasure of good sense to
Speaker 2: the godly. He is their shield protecting those who walk
Speaker 2: with into You need a shield in your life against
Speaker 2: the crazy makers. There are people who try to mess
Speaker 2: up your life all the time. And God says I
Speaker 2: will be a shield in your life. You need a
Speaker 2: shield against crazy makers. But he says you got to
Speaker 2: walk with integrity if you're going to have my shield
Speaker 2: in your life. So first, wisdom is pure, and if
Speaker 2: I want to be wise in my relationships, I won't
Speaker 2: compromise my integrity. Number two, wisdom is peace loving. That's
Speaker 2: the second thing that says. In other words, wise people
Speaker 2: are peace makers. They're not trouble makers. Wise people don't
Speaker 2: carry chip on their shoulder. Wise people are not always
Speaker 2: looking for a fight. Do you love a good fight,
Speaker 2: then you're not wise. The Bible says wisdom is peace loving.
Speaker 2: Fools love to fight. Just go on the internet. There
Speaker 2: it's full of them. Just look up any blog. Foolish
Speaker 2: people love to fight, they love to argue, they love
Speaker 2: to mix it up with people. Some people get into
Speaker 2: politics just because they love with a fight. That's not smart,
Speaker 2: it's foolish. The Bible says wisdom is peace loving, it's
Speaker 2: not always trying to provoke anger. So here's the second thing.
Speaker 2: If I want to be wise in my relationships, I
Speaker 2: won't antagonize your anger. I won't antagonize your anger. In
Speaker 2: other words, I don't push your hot buttons intentionally. I
Speaker 2: don't provoke your rage. I don't egg you on. Now,
Speaker 2: the fact is, if you've been around anybody for any
Speaker 2: length of time, you've pretty soon figure out what irritates them,
Speaker 2: and you file that back in the back of your
Speaker 2: mind as tool to use when we get in an argument.
Speaker 2: It's a weapon of mass destruction. And you know what
Speaker 2: pushes their button, and you know what just ticks them off.
Speaker 2: And when you get in an argument and they say
Speaker 2: something that hurts you, offends you, or slights you in
Speaker 2: any way, then you pull out the big gun. You
Speaker 2: use the weapon of mass destruction. You push their hot button,
Speaker 2: and you go and they go. When you go, works
Speaker 2: every works every time. You know what the Bible calls
Speaker 2: that stupid, You're not getting any closer to the resolution.
Speaker 2: You're not helping the relationship. In fact, you're hurting it.
Speaker 2: It is not wise if I'm wise. I don't antagonize
Speaker 2: your anger. I don't use weapons of mass destruction that
Speaker 2: I know are going to tick you off. I don't
Speaker 2: push your buttons, even when I know what your buttons are,
Speaker 2: and even when you've already pushed mine. I'm going to
Speaker 2: be the wiser person, and I'm not going to push back.
Speaker 2: Proverbs twenty verse three says this, any fool can start
Speaker 2: an argument. Any fool can start arguments. The wise thing
Speaker 2: is to stay out of them. So don't be baited
Speaker 2: by internet trolls who you know they'll say something off
Speaker 2: the wall and then you get stuck arguing with them online.
Speaker 2: You don't even care about these people, he says, don't,
Speaker 2: don't get baited, don't don't get baited, and don't antagonize
Speaker 2: people's anger. Now, during this series, we're gonna have some
Speaker 2: fun because we're gonna laugh at ourselves, because we all
Speaker 2: use tools, tricks of the trade, skills and relationships that
Speaker 2: are actually counterproductive. They're hurtful, they're harmful, and they don't
Speaker 2: get you what you want out of relationship. In fact,
Speaker 2: they get you the exact opposite behavior. But when we
Speaker 2: lack wisdom, we use them anyway. Now, there are lots
Speaker 2: of these, we're gonna look at them in the weeks ahead.
Speaker 2: Let me just mention three of them today. Tools that
Speaker 2: you should never use because these always antagonize other people's anger.
Speaker 2: If you're wise, you're never gonna do these things anymore
Speaker 2: with people in relationships. Number one is comparing. You may
Speaker 2: write that one down. Comparing. You're gonna antagonize somebody's anger
Speaker 2: when you start comparing them to anybody else. It always
Speaker 2: makes them mad. Why can't you be like so and so?
Speaker 2: Or you're always like so and so, or you're just
Speaker 2: like your mother. Oh, that's very helpful. Okay, you can
Speaker 2: guess the predictable response to that one. You're just like
Speaker 2: your mother, Oh, thank you, Or you're just like your dad.
Speaker 2: Second Corinthians ten twelve says anybody who compares is a fool.
Speaker 2: It's foolish, it's not wise. Never compare your wife, your husband,
Speaker 2: your kids, your yard, your boss, or anybody else, because
Speaker 2: everybody's unique. Comparing antagonizes anger, Condemning antagonizes answer. Don't do it.
Speaker 2: When you start laying on the guilt in a relationship,
Speaker 2: you start trying to make people feel guilty for what
Speaker 2: they've done. You start trying to make them feel ashamed.
Speaker 2: You should be ashamed. All you're going to do is
Speaker 2: get the exact opposite of what you expect. It doesn't work.
Speaker 2: It's foolish, ladies. Let me explain something to you. Every
Speaker 2: man is fighting his conscience all the time, whether he
Speaker 2: realizes it or not. He may not even realize it,
Speaker 2: but every man is constantly fighting his conscience. When you
Speaker 2: decide to be a man's conscience, guess who he gets
Speaker 2: angry at. He takes all that anger he's fighting against
Speaker 2: himself and his own conscience and his own ethics, and
Speaker 2: he just turns it on you. Is that what you want? No, no,
Speaker 2: you don't want that. So that's a foolish thing to do.
Speaker 2: Don't try to be somebody else's god. Don't try to
Speaker 2: be somebody else's conscience. You should, you must, you ought,
Speaker 2: you need to, you always, you never anytime you use
Speaker 2: those words dumb, because all you're gonna do is you're
Speaker 2: gonna take that guys who's fighting his own conscience, and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden he starts fighting you because you
Speaker 2: represent his conscience. It doesn't work. Comparing and condemning and
Speaker 2: number three. Contradicting always makes people mad. You ever watch
Speaker 2: the spouse correct every detail of a story while the
Speaker 2: other person's telling it. It's irritating. Anybody want to give
Speaker 2: a testimony, Okay, it's irritating. If I'm wise, I won't
Speaker 2: antagonize your anger. If you're wise, you don't sweat the
Speaker 2: small stuff. Okay, you just don't sweat it. You don't
Speaker 2: sweat the small stuff. You don't get hooked into it.
Speaker 2: William James, the famous psychologist, said, wisdom is the art
Speaker 2: of knowing what to overlook. And there's some stuff you
Speaker 2: just need to overlook, and you not try to make
Speaker 2: a big deal that you're not contradicting. Proverbs fourteen twenty
Speaker 2: nine says this. A wise man controls his temper. He
Speaker 2: knows that anger causes mistakes. Have you ever said or
Speaker 2: done anything stupid out of anger? Yes, because when you
Speaker 2: get angry, your intelligence goes out the window. When you
Speaker 2: get angry, you say and do stupid things that are
Speaker 2: actually self defeating. Did you know there's only one letter
Speaker 2: difference between anger and danger. When you get angry, you
Speaker 2: are in dangerous territory. You are about to hurt yourself
Speaker 2: with your own anger. The Bible says, wise man controls
Speaker 2: his temper. He knows that anger causes mistakes. So if
Speaker 2: I'm wise, I don't compromise my integrity, and I don't
Speaker 2: antagonize your anger. Number three, the third thing the Bible says,
Speaker 2: wisdom is gentle all the time. It's gentle all the time.
Speaker 2: It is courteous. The Bible says. In the Living Bible
Speaker 2: NIV translates it considerate. If I'm wise, I'm always to
Speaker 2: be considerate. Look up here on the screen. The Philippians
Speaker 2: four or five says this in the Bible. Let everyone
Speaker 2: see that you are considerate in most of everything you do. Oh,
Speaker 2: I didn't say that. It says, let everybody see that
Speaker 2: you are considerate in what all you do. I don't
Speaker 2: like that word. I looked it up in the original Greek.
Speaker 2: It means all, wait a minute. You mean I have
Speaker 2: to be considered when people are inconsiderate to me. Yes,
Speaker 2: I have to be considered to clerks who are jerks. Yes,
Speaker 2: when people are rude to me. I don't get to
Speaker 2: be rude back. No, not if I'm smart. If I'm foolish,
Speaker 2: I can get back. But if I want to be
Speaker 2: wise if I want to have wisdom, I am always, always,
Speaker 2: always considerate. I am not allowed to call you names.
Speaker 2: I am not allowed to be rude to you. I'm
Speaker 2: not allowed to slur you back. I'm not allowed to
Speaker 2: get even because that puts me on the same level
Speaker 2: as you. I am always to be considerate. Now this
Speaker 2: is so important. Wise people are considerate even when people
Speaker 2: are blasting away at them. Why because being considerate is
Speaker 2: the antidote to the two most common mistakes foolish mistakes
Speaker 2: that you make in relationships. The two most common mistakes
Speaker 2: that you make in relationships, and the first mistake you
Speaker 2: make is we react to what people say and ignore
Speaker 2: how people feel. We pay too much attention to their
Speaker 2: words and not enough attention to their emotions. The words
Speaker 2: don't really matter. People say stuff when they're angry. They
Speaker 2: don't even mean They use words they don't even intend
Speaker 2: to use. They exaggerate things. But you need to look
Speaker 2: behind the words and look at the emotion, because that's
Speaker 2: what it is. People don't always say what they mean,
Speaker 2: but they always feel what they feel. And so if
Speaker 2: you are wise in a relationship, you stop focusing on
Speaker 2: what your kids or your boyfriend or your husband or
Speaker 2: your wife or your boss says that just picks you off,
Speaker 2: and you start looking behind and go, what's the emotion
Speaker 2: they're feeling there? And why are they feeling that emotion?
Speaker 2: That's what wise people do you see? Being considerate means
Speaker 2: simply mindful of the feelings of others. To be considerate
Speaker 2: means mindful of the feelings of others, not the words,
Speaker 2: but the feeling. And if I'm considerate, even when you
Speaker 2: blast me, I look beyond and I go, what would
Speaker 2: cause them to feel that way? And I just let
Speaker 2: the words roll right past me, and I go, what
Speaker 2: would cause them to be that uptight, that irritated? That
Speaker 2: rude hurt people always hurt people. Unkind people are those
Speaker 2: who need your kindness the most. They need massive doses
Speaker 2: of kindness. When people are rude and unkind, they are
Speaker 2: screaming to the world, I'm in pain. People who are
Speaker 2: not in pain are kind. People who are always in
Speaker 2: pain are unkind and rude. Hurt people hurt people. So
Speaker 2: you look beyond the words and you look at the feelings.
Speaker 2: Romans fifteen to two says this here on the screen,
Speaker 2: we must be considerate. That means mindful of the feelings
Speaker 2: of others, of the doubts everybody's got doubts, and the fears.
Speaker 2: Everybody's got fears of others. Let's please the other person,
Speaker 2: not ourselves, in doing what's good for him and build
Speaker 2: him up. We react to what people say and ignore
Speaker 2: what they're feeling. Big mistake. The other mistake we do
Speaker 2: is we invalidate any feelings that we don't feel ourselves.
Speaker 2: I don't feel it, so you shouldn't. If I don't
Speaker 2: feel what you feel, then your feeling is dumb. It's irrational,
Speaker 2: it's illogical, it makes no sense, and you shouldn't feel it.
Speaker 2: And we just dismiss it because we don't feel it,
Speaker 2: then you shouldn't feel it. That's foolish, That is not wise.
Speaker 2: You ever played this game? It's cold in here? No
Speaker 2: it's not. Yes, it's cold in here. No it's not.
Speaker 2: I'm cold. No you're not. Actually it's quite warm. In fact,
Speaker 2: I'm burning up in here. No you're not. And you
Speaker 2: start arguing over you know, all kinds of stuff. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just a feeling. It's not a fact. It's just
Speaker 2: a feeling. You can argue over facts. This is a feeling.
Speaker 2: Can somebody be cold and somebody else be warm at
Speaker 2: the same time? Yes, yes, So why are you arguing
Speaker 2: about it? Whoever invented the dual control electric blankets should
Speaker 2: be given the Nobel Peace Price. It's saved millions of marriages.
Speaker 2: When we invalidate other people's we don't feel it, we
Speaker 2: minimize that person. Guys, if your girlfriend or your wife
Speaker 2: says to you, I feel ugly, you don't dismiss it.
Speaker 2: You're not ugly. That doesn't help at all. What you
Speaker 2: need to do is say why would you feel that?
Speaker 2: What would make you say that? Because you need to
Speaker 2: look beyond the feeling. I mean, I mean the words
Speaker 2: and say why don't she say she's obviously not ugly?
Speaker 2: But for you to just say you're not ugly, that's
Speaker 2: not helpful. That's not helpful. When they says I feel ugly,
Speaker 2: you need to go why would you say that? What's
Speaker 2: making you feel that? Today? Now you're getting to the
Speaker 2: real issue. Somebody says I'm afraid, well, don't be Oh,
Speaker 2: thank you, that was very helpful. I really felt your
Speaker 2: moral support right there. Just then, I will I'm scared
Speaker 2: to death, And you say, don't thank you? Very much.
Speaker 2: That is minimizing. Now, if you don't get anything else,
Speaker 2: I say, get this today. Feelings are neither right nor wrong.
Speaker 2: They're just there. Feelings are neither right nor wrong. They're
Speaker 2: just there. They're not facts, so you don't need to
Speaker 2: argue it. They're just feelings. And if I feel something,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't have to defend it, and if you feel something,
Speaker 2: you shouldn't have to defend it. Some is should just go.
Speaker 2: I hear you, and maybe other people feel that way too.
Speaker 2: What we do is we try to convince people that
Speaker 2: their feelings are wrong and you're always going to lose
Speaker 2: that one.
Speaker 1: What a fantastic message from Pastor Rick. You know, Daily
Speaker 1: Hope is changing lives every day. Here's Pastor Rick with
Speaker 1: a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Here's a letter from Catherine, a listener who said that
Speaker 2: hearing the truth of the Bible on Daily Hope transformed
Speaker 2: her life. She wrote me this, she said, Pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: A few months ago, I was angry all the time
Speaker 2: about everything. My husband was drinking too much, and my
Speaker 2: marriage was headed for divorce. Years ago, i'd forgotten about
Speaker 2: my faith. But one day, on my long drive home
Speaker 2: from work, I changed the station from my angry music,
Speaker 2: and I found you speaking on Daily Hope on the radio.
Speaker 2: You know, it was as if through you, Jesus said, oh,
Speaker 2: you're finally listening, and I have something to tell you. Well.
Speaker 2: Your message spoke directly to me, to my problems and
Speaker 2: to my many failures, and you spoke some hard truths,
Speaker 2: Pastor Rick, that I needed to hear about the things
Speaker 2: that I was doing wrong and the things that I
Speaker 2: wasn't doing at all. But it made me look at
Speaker 2: myself and I realized that I had forgotten about Jesus,
Speaker 2: and I was making my self miserable trying to do
Speaker 2: everything on my own. I wasn't trusting in God, or
Speaker 2: seeking God, or even a relationship with Jesus. But a
Speaker 2: few days later, after a lot of inward reflection, I
Speaker 2: shared your words with my husband. You know what, We're
Speaker 2: now both reading our Bibles again, We're going to church again.
Speaker 2: We're mending our relationship with each other and with Christ,
Speaker 2: our savior. And it is your Daily Hope program that
Speaker 2: changed our lives and the direction of our lives. Now
Speaker 2: I'm listening to you on my way home from work
Speaker 2: every day. So thanks for allowing yourself to be a
Speaker 2: vessel through which God can work to restore lives and marriages.
Speaker 2: I was hopeless, but now I'm full of hope and
Speaker 2: full of joy through my faith in Jesus. So God,
Speaker 2: bless you Rick for bringing me back to God. Friends,
Speaker 2: you may have heard me say this before that I
Speaker 2: am addicted to change lives. I am passionate about watching
Speaker 2: God at work in your life and giving people hope
Speaker 2: when everything else seems hopeless. It's why we do what
Speaker 2: we do. Catherine and her husband have now mended their
Speaker 2: relationship and they're both reading their Bibles. That is incredible news.
Speaker 2: The family that prays together stays together. None of this,
Speaker 2: by the way, would be possible without your support of
Speaker 2: daily hope. It is your gifts, your financial gifts, and
Speaker 2: your prayers that allow me to teach millions of people
Speaker 2: every day all around the world about the hope of
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Now, as you just heard, people are being saved,
Speaker 2: lives are being changed, marriages are being restored, people are
Speaker 2: finding hope. Why because of you and your financial gifts
Speaker 2: and your prayers. So thank you, everybody for your caring
Speaker 2: about others and their relationship with God. And if you
Speaker 2: can send gift today, Please do so. We want to
Speaker 2: reach more and more people with the hope of God's Word.
Speaker 1: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: just go.
Speaker 2: To pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: That's pastorick dot com. Or you can text the word
Speaker 1: hope to seven oh three oh nine. That's the word
Speaker 1: hope to seven oh three oh nine. And really, from
Speaker 1: the bottom of our hearts, we thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your support. Your gift to Daily Hope helps us
Speaker 1: share the hope of Christ with people everywhere. Hey, be
Speaker 1: sure to join us next time when we look into
Speaker 1: God's Word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored
Speaker 1: by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.