Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 2: We are so glad you're here with us.
Speaker 1: Today we're going to continue our series called the Keys
Speaker 1: to a Blessed Life.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: In these messages, Rick walks through Jesus's Sermon on the
Speaker 1: Mount and shows us how to live a truly hopeful
Speaker 1: and purpose filled life. And now here's part one of
Speaker 1: the Strength of Gentleness.
Speaker 2: Today we're in part three of the series on jesus
Speaker 2: eight Keys to living a blessed life. They're often called
Speaker 2: the Beatitudes. That the first eight verses of the most
Speaker 2: important sermon ever preached on planet Earth, the Sermon on
Speaker 2: the Mount in Matthew chapter five, Verse five, Jesus says,
Speaker 2: this the third key to God's blessing on your life.
Speaker 2: God blesses those who are gentle. Look at that, God
Speaker 2: blesses those who are And then here's the promise. The
Speaker 2: whole earth will belong to them. Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: That's about the most extravagant statement ever made. The whole
Speaker 2: earth will belong to anybody who's gentle. Do I really
Speaker 2: believe that? Well, I wouldn't accept Jesus said it, and
Speaker 2: Jesus doesn't lie. Jesus said, I am the truth. Not
Speaker 2: I have the truth. I teach the truth to point
Speaker 2: the truth. I am the truth. So if Jesus says,
Speaker 2: God blesses those who are gentle, the whole earth will
Speaker 2: belong to them. Guess what I believe that he's saying.
Speaker 2: Somehow locked up in this third key of blessing is
Speaker 2: the key that when you learn what it really means
Speaker 2: to be gentle, the world's yours. I mean, it's your apple,
Speaker 2: it's it's You're in charge, just not driving you it. Now,
Speaker 2: in our hard driving, ego driven, market driven culture, you
Speaker 2: don't hear a whole lot about gentleness. And the reason
Speaker 2: why is we don't understand what it really means to
Speaker 2: be gentle. We think gentleness means weakness, and God says
Speaker 2: absolutely not. The gentle are the strongest people on the planet,
Speaker 2: and the earth will be theirs. It's the weak people
Speaker 2: who are arrogant, It's the weak people who are prideful.
Speaker 2: It's the weak people who are pushy and rude and
Speaker 2: mean and gossip. Those are weak people, he said. The
Speaker 2: truly strong people in life are the gentle, and the
Speaker 2: world will be theirs. Let me give you a true
Speaker 2: definition of gentleness. Gentleness is strength under control. Gentleness, the
Speaker 2: Bible teaches real gentleness is not weakness, but rather its
Speaker 2: strength under control. A gentle person does not over react.
Speaker 2: A gentle person is not driven by their own emotions.
Speaker 2: A gentle person is not someone who just is so
Speaker 2: moody and anything can let them fly off the handle.
Speaker 2: A gentleness person is strength under control. The Greek word
Speaker 2: in the Bible for gentleness is the word pratase pratase
Speaker 2: in the old translations of the Bible. In English, it
Speaker 2: is translated as the word meek meek. Now nobody uses
Speaker 2: that word anymore because meek has become a synonym for weak,
Speaker 2: and gentleness or pratase is anything but weak. In fact,
Speaker 2: the word pratase or gentleness in the Bible was actually
Speaker 2: used to refer to a wild stallion that had been tamed.
Speaker 2: If you go out into the fields or in the
Speaker 2: hills and you find a wild stallion who's strong and unbridled,
Speaker 2: and they have enormous strength, and they could kick you
Speaker 2: and kill you pretty quickly. But if you bring that
Speaker 2: stallion back and you tame it, then the strength is
Speaker 2: brought under control. The strength is bottled up for the
Speaker 2: master's use, and now it's useful. A tamed horse is
Speaker 2: no less strong than a wild horse. It has just
Speaker 2: as much strength, it can go just as fast. But
Speaker 2: a tamed horse, a proud taste horse, a meek horse,
Speaker 2: a gentle horse, is one that it is strength under control.
Speaker 2: It is bottled up for the master's use. And when
Speaker 2: you learn true gentleness as a man of God, when
Speaker 2: you learn true gentleness as a woman of God, it
Speaker 2: doesn't mean you're weak. It doesn't mean you're a doormat,
Speaker 2: it doesn't mean any of those things that you might
Speaker 2: think meekness or gentleness means. It means you're not overreacting,
Speaker 2: you're in control of your emotions, and you have strength
Speaker 2: under control. Now today I want us to look at
Speaker 2: the strength of gentleness, this third key to being blessed
Speaker 2: by God in your life. And specifically, I want to
Speaker 2: give you eight benefits what the Bible says eight benefits
Speaker 2: of learning gentleness, so that this week you'll actually begin
Speaker 2: to work on this quality in your life. Because once
Speaker 2: you understand what this quality will do in your life,
Speaker 2: you're going to go I want to be a gentle
Speaker 2: man or I want to be a gentle woman because
Speaker 2: it brings so many blessings in your life. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: give you eight, so we're gonna have to write quick
Speaker 2: take notes, real quick. Number one. Let's get right into it.
Speaker 2: How learning to be gentle will bless your life? Number one.
Speaker 2: The Bible teaches gentleness diffuses conflict. Gentleness diffuses conflict, It
Speaker 2: de escalates anger. It curbs anger. It diffuses the time
Speaker 2: bomb in any relationship that's about to explode. Gentleness is
Speaker 2: an antidote to anger, the Bible says in Proverbs fifteen,
Speaker 2: verse one, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a
Speaker 2: harsh word stirs up anger. I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: noticed this or not, but it is tendency of human beings.
Speaker 2: You and I tend to mimic the emotions of people
Speaker 2: across from us. And the reason we do this is
Speaker 2: because there's created in your brains. What or now we
Speaker 2: now know about this, We didn't even know about this
Speaker 2: years ago. We're in your brain are things called mirror
Speaker 2: neurons in your brain, and mirror neurons allows you to
Speaker 2: sympathize and also allow you to mirror back what other
Speaker 2: people feel. So for instance, if somebody gets angry at you,
Speaker 2: you get angry back. If somebody gets upset, you get
Speaker 2: upset back. If somebody is really depressed, you hang around
Speaker 2: the long enough you get depressed. On the other hand,
Speaker 2: if somebody's energetic, you get energetic. That's part of the system. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but
Speaker 2: a harsh word stirs up anger. Let me give you
Speaker 2: a little tip that will save you a lot of
Speaker 2: problems and a lot of heartache and a lot of
Speaker 2: conflicts in your life. When other people raise their voice,
Speaker 2: you lower yours. That simple tip will save you from
Speaker 2: an enormous amount of conflict in your marriage and your parenting,
Speaker 2: and your friendships and at work. When other people raise
Speaker 2: your voice, you need to learn to automatically lower yours.
Speaker 2: That's called strength under control. See what happens is usually
Speaker 2: when somebody raises their voice against you, you raise your
Speaker 2: voice back, and then they raise their voice higher, and
Speaker 2: you raise your voice higher, and pretty soon it's way escalated,
Speaker 2: way up here. That means you're out of control of
Speaker 2: your emotions. Strength under control gentleness means that when they
Speaker 2: raise their emotions, you lower yours. And you're not gonna
Speaker 2: mimic and mock them. Here's a good verse you're gonna
Speaker 2: need someday. Maybe some of you need it this week.
Speaker 2: Ecclesiastes ten to four. If your boss is angry with you,
Speaker 2: don't quit. If your boss is angry with you, don't quit.
Speaker 2: A gentle a quiet, gentle spirit can overcome even great mistakes.
Speaker 2: You see, when your boss rips one on you and
Speaker 2: just let it, let's it rip and just kind of
Speaker 2: vomits on you bad and really gets mad at you,
Speaker 2: you need to first realize it may not be anything
Speaker 2: have anything to do with you. They may have just
Speaker 2: got a bad phone call. They may be receiving pressure
Speaker 2: from their boss. They may have a bad situation at home.
Speaker 2: They may eate a bad pizza. It could be any
Speaker 2: number of things. And now they're turning to the person's
Speaker 2: closest to them, which is somebody who works for them,
Speaker 2: and they just kind of vent on you. And a
Speaker 2: lot of times that has nothing to do with you.
Speaker 2: And he says, when your boss gets angry at you, A,
Speaker 2: don't get angry back, but B don't walk away either.
Speaker 2: Just hang in there, because it says a gentle, quiet
Speaker 2: spirit can overcome even great mistakes. Number two, Gentleness not
Speaker 2: only diffuses anger. Gentleness, this is a big one, disarms critics.
Speaker 2: It disarms critics. Now, the more successful you are in life,
Speaker 2: the more critics you're going to have. If you don't
Speaker 2: do anything with your life, nobody's going to criticize you.
Speaker 2: The only way to not be criticized do nothing, say nothing,
Speaker 2: be nothing. But if you actually stand for something instead
Speaker 2: of falling for anything, you're going to be criticized. And
Speaker 2: the more successful you are, the more criticized you are,
Speaker 2: and the more well known you are, the more criticized
Speaker 2: you're going to be. Now, how do you handle the
Speaker 2: critics in your life? People who gossip against you at school,
Speaker 2: at work, in your neighborhood, the people who malign you,
Speaker 2: who say bad things against against you. Here's the point.
Speaker 2: When you respond in gentleness, it disarms your critics. Why
Speaker 2: it actually disappoints them. Because when somebody criticizes you on
Speaker 2: social media, they're trolling friends, they're trolling. They want to
Speaker 2: hook you, and they want you and they they're expecting
Speaker 2: you to get mad back. They're expecting you and they
Speaker 2: want you to be defensive and they want you to
Speaker 2: get angry. Now, let me explain the psychology behind this.
Speaker 2: There is actually an anger addiction that is as real
Speaker 2: as any other addiction. Some people are addicted to the
Speaker 2: feeling of anger. It's the only way they feel alive.
Speaker 2: And they live in such a depressed state. They're living
Speaker 2: in so much depression in their life. The only way
Speaker 2: they can actually feel good, or feel alive, or feel
Speaker 2: energetic is to get mad at somebody. Those people are
Speaker 2: always looking for a fight. Do you know who I'm
Speaker 2: talking about? Don't look at them, but you know who
Speaker 2: they are. Maybe you had a parent like that, you know,
Speaker 2: maybe you married somebody like that. Maybe I had a
Speaker 2: boyfriend like that, And it's just like, why are you
Speaker 2: looking for a fight? Because some people actually don't feel
Speaker 2: very good until they get angry. And when they get angry,
Speaker 2: then what happens is it energizes them and they feel
Speaker 2: a whole lot better. Does that make sense? So you
Speaker 2: cannot let that let them pull you in, because somebody's
Speaker 2: gonna say something to you on you know, Instagram or
Speaker 2: Facebook or something, Twitter or something, and if you respond,
Speaker 2: they go hook them. Now I'm just gonna reel them
Speaker 2: in and they feel so good because they love getting
Speaker 2: in a fight. Normal people don't love getting in a fight,
Speaker 2: but some people do. Now they're trying to hook you.
Speaker 2: What do you do in those situations? One Corinthians four thirteen.
Speaker 2: Paul says, here's what he does. We respond gently when
Speaker 2: evil things are said about us. In other words, we
Speaker 2: don't retaliate, We don't get back. You see, if somebody
Speaker 2: hurts you, that puts them below you. If you get even,
Speaker 2: it puts you even. But if you respond gently, it
Speaker 2: actually puts you morally superior to them. And Paul says,
Speaker 2: we respond gently even when evil things are said about us.
Speaker 2: Titus two eight says this, your conversation should be so sensible.
Speaker 2: In other words, it's gentle, it's kind, it's sensitive, and
Speaker 2: sensible that anyone who wants to argue, in other words,
Speaker 2: with you will be ashamed because there won't be anything
Speaker 2: to criticize in anything you say. Did you know that,
Speaker 2: as your pastor, I am forbidden by God to get
Speaker 2: into arguments. There are multiple passages in the scripture that
Speaker 2: says a pastor must never argue. Now, I know a
Speaker 2: lot of pastors who do, and they just violate that scripture.
Speaker 2: But the Bible says a pastor should never get caught
Speaker 2: brought into a heated argument or debate, and says it says,
Speaker 2: I am commanded by God to be gentle in every situation.
Speaker 2: So this is equality I've had to learn in ministry.
Speaker 2: Let me show you verse. It's up there on the screen,
Speaker 2: two Timothy two twenty five. This is one of many,
Speaker 2: it says, and the Lord's servant. It's talking about pastors.
Speaker 2: It gives the qualifications for being a pastor, and it
Speaker 2: says one of them is the Lord's servant must never quarrel.
Speaker 2: Look at that. I am not allowed to quarrel, according
Speaker 2: to the Bible. Instead, he must be kind and gentle
Speaker 2: with everyone he agrees with. No, he must be kind
Speaker 2: and gentle with everyone one in his political party. Now
Speaker 2: then say that he must be kind and gentle with
Speaker 2: everyone who is a Christian. And then say that it
Speaker 2: says with everyone. Does that include other religions? Yes, includes atheists, Yes,
Speaker 2: people with the lifestyle I disagree with. Yes, I am
Speaker 2: to be kind and gentle with everybody. I am forbidden
Speaker 2: to quarrel with anybody. It says they must be able
Speaker 2: to teach effectively. A pastor and they must be patient
Speaker 2: with difficult people. That means you. Then it says it
Speaker 2: is those who oppose him he must gently instruct gently.
Speaker 2: There's that word gentle. He must gently instruct in the
Speaker 2: hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to
Speaker 2: know the truth. I don't know if you've noticed this
Speaker 2: or not, but I get criticized every once in a while,
Speaker 2: in fact all the time, and most it's just total nonsense.
Speaker 2: It makes no sense at all. And when I read it,
Speaker 2: I go, why would they criticize me for that? That's
Speaker 2: not true. I know the stuff they should criticize me.
Speaker 2: They should ask me, and then they could criticize the
Speaker 2: real things that I'm worthy of criticism about. But I
Speaker 2: am not allowed to retaliate in any way. It's why
Speaker 2: I never ever ever fight back with critics. Never. I
Speaker 2: just don't do it. Why the Bible says gentleness disarms critics.
Speaker 2: And so I constantly ask God for a tough skin
Speaker 2: and a tender heart. And that's what you need to do.
Speaker 2: You need to say, God, give me a tough skin.
Speaker 2: So when people say stuff about me, he just rolls
Speaker 2: off my back. I don't let it bother me. But
Speaker 2: I have a tender heart. You don't want a tough heart.
Speaker 2: You want a tender heart and a tough skin. What's
Speaker 2: really funny is because God says blesses, God blesses those
Speaker 2: who are gentle, the whole earth belongs to them. Some
Speaker 2: of my biggest critics have actually become some of my
Speaker 2: best friends. Because I would not retaliate. I only responded
Speaker 2: in generalists. He is a well known pastor who's been
Speaker 2: on the radio for years and years and years. Henny's
Speaker 2: just criticized me for thirty five years. I don't think
Speaker 2: he's ever read anything that I've written, or even a
Speaker 2: visit at saddle Back Church, so he's just heard it
Speaker 2: all secondhand. Henny's criticized, and in thirty four years, I
Speaker 2: have refused to ever say one single thing negative about
Speaker 2: that guy. I just won't do it. In fact, the
Speaker 2: other day he went on a recent rampage and was
Speaker 2: talking about stuff that just wasn't right. And somebody on
Speaker 2: Twitter said, Pastor Rick, have you seen what pastor so
Speaker 2: and so has said about you? Are you going to
Speaker 2: respond to it? And I wrote back on Twitter these
Speaker 2: words what And I mentioned that guy's name. What? That
Speaker 2: guy thinks about me in no way controls my response
Speaker 2: to him, and I have nothing but total respect for
Speaker 2: his ministry. That's called gentleness. That's called strength under control.
Speaker 2: Gentleness diffuses conflict that gentleness disarms critics. Here's a real
Speaker 2: important one. Gentleness is persuasive. The Bible says gentleness is persuasive. Now,
Speaker 2: this is extremely important if you happen to make a
Speaker 2: career in sales, if you're a salesman, a saleswoman, you
Speaker 2: have to sell a product or a service, you definitely
Speaker 2: need to learn gentleness. Why because the hard sell no
Speaker 2: longer works. It used to be the way you got
Speaker 2: people's attention in the world was to be the loudest advertisement.
Speaker 2: And all you had to do was be loud and
Speaker 2: fast and hard and strong, and people go, okay, I'll
Speaker 2: buy I'll buy a vacuum cleaner. You know, okay, I'll
Speaker 2: buy your computer, I'll buy your car. None of that
Speaker 2: works anymore, I mean you know it. There were these
Speaker 2: guys used to be on TV to sell cars, and
Speaker 2: they talk real loud and real fast. In fact, when
Speaker 2: somebody comes on really hard and really forceful, what's your
Speaker 2: automatic reaction? Back off? No way, am I buying anything
Speaker 2: from that person. Today, the hard sell no longer works.
Speaker 2: In fact, advertising doesn't work anymore. What works is gentleness,
Speaker 2: And so you get you know what, most of the
Speaker 2: stuff you buy today, you don't buy it because somebody's
Speaker 2: giving you a hard sales pash. You buy it because
Speaker 2: somebody recommended it. And we go, oh, what are my friends?
Speaker 2: What car are they buying, what movies are they seeing?
Speaker 2: What restaurants are they going to? And it is recommendations. Why,
Speaker 2: because that's a gentle approach, it's far more persuasive. Let
Speaker 2: me show you some Verses. Privers twenty five, Verse fifteen
Speaker 2: says gentle speech can break down rigid defenses. So you
Speaker 2: want to convince your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your husband, your wife,
Speaker 2: your parents to do something, not the hard cell. That's
Speaker 2: not gonna work. Gentle speech breaks down rigid defenses. The
Speaker 2: New Century version says a gentle word can get through
Speaker 2: to the hard headed. And so if you're a parent,
Speaker 2: screaming at your child never works, never works. You never
Speaker 2: discipline in anger, and you never discipline in frustration. You
Speaker 2: always discipline in love, and you do it gently because
Speaker 2: screaming never works. All it does is create fear and
Speaker 2: resentment in the person you're screaming at, and they get
Speaker 2: defensive and they put it up. You know, if I
Speaker 2: want to persuade you to live more for Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: I must do it in a gentle way. So I
Speaker 2: could stand up here every Sunday evening and say, let
Speaker 2: me tell you all the things you're doing wrong. And
Speaker 2: what would you do? You just build emotional bears, I
Speaker 2: forget rip and you probably stop coming you go. You
Speaker 2: wouldn't say, hey, let's go to s battle back Sunday
Speaker 2: night and have Rick tell us what bad people we are.
Speaker 2: That doesn't work. It doesn't work in the pulpit, it
Speaker 2: doesn't work in the house, it doesn't work in as
Speaker 2: a teacher. Nagging never works. But gentleness is persuasive. A
Speaker 2: gentle word can get through to the hard headed. You
Speaker 2: say it gently. Look at this verse. Contemporary English version says,
Speaker 2: patience and gentle talk can convince a ruler and overcome
Speaker 2: any problem. That's what the Bible says. See that word ruler.
Speaker 2: Let me give you a little tip on Bible study.
Speaker 2: Anytime you see the word ruler in the Bible, you
Speaker 2: translate it boss, manager, supervisor. Because we don't have rulers.
Speaker 2: Today we're in a democracy. We don't have kings. We
Speaker 2: don't have queens. We do have lords and ladies and
Speaker 2: counts and vassals. We don't have kings and rulers. Nobody
Speaker 2: rules over you. Everybody has a boss, and we all
Speaker 2: have to work under supervision at different times in our life.
Speaker 2: So anytime you see the word ruler or king in
Speaker 2: the Bible, just translated CEO, boss manager, the supervisor over me.
Speaker 2: Patience and gentle talk can convince your supervisor and overcome
Speaker 2: any problem. Why, because gentleness is persuasive. Look at the
Speaker 2: next verse. The Bible says in Proverbs sixteen twenty one,
Speaker 2: a wise mature person is known for understanding. The more
Speaker 2: pleasant his words, the more persuasive he is. Now, circle
Speaker 2: the word pleasant, and circle the word persuasive, and draw
Speaker 2: a line between them. Because if you want to be persuasive,
Speaker 2: if you want to persuade people of your idea, your product,
Speaker 2: your service, your faith, or anything else, you must be
Speaker 2: pleasant pleasant. The more pleasant in his words, the more
Speaker 2: persuasive is now. This is the mark of maturity. Wise
Speaker 2: mature people are pleasant fools, and idiots are rude fools.
Speaker 2: And idiots are rude. They're crass, they're crude, They're not pleasant,
Speaker 2: they're unpleasant, and they speak in rude, crude ways. The
Speaker 2: more mature, the more wise you are, the more pleasant,
Speaker 2: the more positive your speech is going to be.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you
Speaker 1: were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.
Speaker 3: You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,
Speaker 3: just a handful of people in our living room, I
Speaker 3: also began writing a simple devotional just for the people
Speaker 3: in our church to help them start each day with
Speaker 3: hope and with truth and with peace that come from
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ. Well, you know, that little devotional grew and
Speaker 3: grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of
Speaker 3: the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each
Speaker 3: day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's
Speaker 3: promises and finding fresh strength in His word to face
Speaker 3: whatever comes their way. And here's the best part. It's
Speaker 3: absolutely free. Okay, we don't have any charge for this.
Speaker 3: Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a
Speaker 3: podcast that you can listen to on the go. Now,
Speaker 3: you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain
Speaker 3: than ever, I want to help you start your day
Speaker 3: centered on what never changes, and what never changes is
Speaker 3: a God's love, his unconditional love for you, and his
Speaker 3: promises to you. You know, if you just spend just
Speaker 3: a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord,
Speaker 3: it can bring so much more clarity, more per us,
Speaker 3: more peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly,
Speaker 3: a psychologists has said that what you do with the
Speaker 3: first five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone. So, friend,
Speaker 3: you were never meant to go through life alone. I
Speaker 3: want to personally invite you to just sign up for
Speaker 3: the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think it's
Speaker 3: going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional,
Speaker 1: it's easy. Just go to Pastorick dot com. That's pastorreg
Speaker 1: dot com. Be sure to join us next time as
Speaker 1: we look into God's Word for our daily hope. This
Speaker 1: program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support