Speaker 1: Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is the place
Speaker 1: where Rick Warren brings you uplifting messages from God's Word
Speaker 1: every day to help you grow deeper in faith and
Speaker 1: live with purpose. Today we're bringing our series called Toolbox
Speaker 1: for Life to a close. In this series, Rick teaches
Speaker 1: four essential skills that you need to succeed wherever God
Speaker 1: has placed you. Whether it's at home, at work, at school,
Speaker 1: or in your community. These are tools that every follower
Speaker 1: of Jesus needs. So let's get started with today's teaching.
Speaker 1: Here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part of a
Speaker 1: message called learning to be both fast and Slow.
Speaker 2: So we've looked at some examples of when God says
Speaker 2: to move fast. Let me give you some examples, and
Speaker 2: again this is not exhaustive. Just a few examples of
Speaker 2: when does God want me to move slowly?
Speaker 3: All right?
Speaker 2: Here a few write these down. Number one, I need
Speaker 2: to move slowly. Number one when I don't have the facts.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, when I don't have the facts, I
Speaker 2: need to move move slowly. I need to find out
Speaker 2: more about what I'm about to do before I do it.
Speaker 2: Now our culture, this is so counterculture because our counter culture,
Speaker 2: our culture worships impulsivity, Our culture values spontaneity. To do anything,
Speaker 2: to plan anything is considered uncool, to plan anything, to
Speaker 2: think it out is to consider Oh, that's kind of geeky.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: No, I just want to be a free spirit, and
Speaker 2: I just want to be spontaneous, and I just want
Speaker 2: to be impulsive. And so you make decisions when you
Speaker 2: don't have the facts and haven't planned at all. How
Speaker 2: many times you've heard things like this? People say, well,
Speaker 2: just go with your gut, go with your gut.
Speaker 3: You just ate a burrito.
Speaker 2: What kind of information you're gonna get out of that?
Speaker 3: Beans and cheese?
Speaker 2: Go with your gut? What does that mean? Go with
Speaker 2: your gut? That's a terrible reason to base your life.
Speaker 3: Your gut is.
Speaker 2: Wrong, It has indigestion half the time. Or here's another one.
Speaker 2: You've heard this on a thousand talk shows, you've heard
Speaker 2: it in movies, and they make it sound so spiritual.
Speaker 2: Just you gotta follow your heart. You ever heard that?
Speaker 2: Just follow your follow your heart?
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: Your heart lies to you all the time, all the time.
Speaker 3: You lie to.
Speaker 2: Yourself more than you lie to anybody else. About half
Speaker 2: the time your heart gets it dead wrong. The Bible
Speaker 2: says in Jeremiah seventeen, the heart is deceitful. That means
Speaker 2: it has an amazing ability to con you. And we
Speaker 2: tend to convince ourselves that things are bad when they're
Speaker 2: not really that bad. And we can convince ourselves that
Speaker 2: they're good when they're not really that good. And we
Speaker 2: lie to ourselves all the time. You should not trust
Speaker 2: your heart because about half the time it's going to
Speaker 2: be dead wrong.
Speaker 3: How's that working out for you? Anyway?
Speaker 2: Follow your heart one dead end after another, broken hearts,
Speaker 2: broken relationships. Following your heart is not You need something
Speaker 2: bigger than yourself. You need an objective source of truth
Speaker 2: that's bigger than you. We talked about this a couple
Speaker 2: weeks ago. That's outside of you. That's a lot more
Speaker 2: reliable than simply well, I got up this morning and.
Speaker 3: Felt like doing this.
Speaker 2: Really, your feelings are often wrong, and we know now
Speaker 2: today from virtual reality.
Speaker 3: We can't make you feel anything.
Speaker 2: Really, people advertisers know how to make you feel all
Speaker 2: kinds of things that you don't want to feel. And
Speaker 2: doesn't mean it's right, doesn't mean it's true. No, you
Speaker 2: need the facts. You need the truth. The Bible says this.
Speaker 2: Look at these verses Proverbs nineteen twenty one. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: zeal that's enthusiasm. Zeal without knowledge is not good. You
Speaker 2: got to get the facts. A person who moves too
Speaker 2: quickly may go the wrong way.
Speaker 3: Has that ever happened to you? Of course it has.
Speaker 2: You ever been driving down the street and you didn't
Speaker 2: know where you're going, and you were in a new
Speaker 2: town or a new area, and you didn't know, and
Speaker 2: you felt like somebody was pressuring you from behind, so
Speaker 2: you turn right or turn left.
Speaker 3: It wasn't the right decision.
Speaker 2: You just felt pressured to do it, and it wasn't
Speaker 2: It wasn't at all where you wanted to go because
Speaker 2: you hadn't stopped to get the facts and consider where
Speaker 2: you need to go. Zeal without knowledge is not good.
Speaker 2: You know, today America economy is run on small businesses.
Speaker 2: But most people don't realize that about eighty percent of
Speaker 2: all small businesses fail within the first five years. Why
Speaker 2: because they have zeal without knowledge. They have a desire,
Speaker 2: but they never to anybody who's actually done it. I
Speaker 2: could say I like to eat cookies. I'm gonna start
Speaker 2: Ricky's Cookie Store. I know nothing about running a cookie store.
Speaker 2: And before I ever start Ricky's Cookie Store, I got
Speaker 2: to go talk to Missus Fields and say what were
Speaker 2: the pitfalls, what didn't work. It's dumb to start anything
Speaker 2: without talking to somebody who's already done it.
Speaker 3: That's what the Bible says.
Speaker 2: I should move slowly when I don't have the facts
Speaker 2: Proverbs eighteen thirteen. To decide before knowing the facts is
Speaker 2: shameful and stupid.
Speaker 3: Well that's pretty clear, all right. Number two.
Speaker 2: Second time, I should move slowly when I'm hurt or angry.
Speaker 2: This will save you a whole lot of counseling bills
Speaker 2: if you'll understand. Don't move fast when you're hurt or angry,
Speaker 2: or you could add depressed too. How many times have
Speaker 2: you made a bad decision when you were upset because
Speaker 2: your emotions kicked in, your heart kicked in, and your
Speaker 2: heart was telling to do stuff that wasn't logical or
Speaker 2: even rational or even beneficial. I should move slowly, the
Speaker 2: Bible says, when I'm hurt or angry. Look at some
Speaker 2: of these verses James one nineteen. Everyone should be quick
Speaker 2: to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Speaker 2: To see the rhythm there, you might circle quick, slow
Speaker 2: and slow. Quick to listen, slow to speak. Usually we
Speaker 2: get that one exact opposite. Usually we're quick to speak
Speaker 2: and slow to listen. And that's why we have all
Speaker 2: the relational problems that we do, because we're quick to
Speaker 2: speak and slow to listen. God says, no, no, no,
Speaker 2: you got it all backwards. Be quick to listen, be
Speaker 2: slow to speak. By the way, if you do the
Speaker 2: first two, the third one's automatic, you'll be slow to anger.
Speaker 3: Now that's a rhythm.
Speaker 2: Let me show you a few verses Proverbs fourteen twenty nine.
Speaker 2: Whoever is slow to anger has a great understanding, But
Speaker 2: he who is quick tempered makes foolish mistakes. Let me
Speaker 2: show you a couple more up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: Proverbs fifteen, verse twenty eight. The Godly thinks before speaking.
Speaker 2: He saying, put your mind in gear before you put
Speaker 2: your mouth in gear. Well, we don't always do that one,
Speaker 2: and that gets us into trouble. Why we don't go slow.
Speaker 2: We're too quick to spout out our opinion on the
Speaker 2: internet or somewhere else. The godly thinks before speaking. Here's
Speaker 2: another one Proverbs fifteen eighteen. Losing your temper causes trouble,
Speaker 2: but staying calm settles argument.
Speaker 3: How do you stay calm? Go slow, go slow.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you're to go fast in life, but sometimes you're
Speaker 2: to go slow.
Speaker 3: Let me give you a third area.
Speaker 2: I should move slowly when making a major decision. Oh,
Speaker 2: this one could save you a lot of heartache and
Speaker 2: a lot of money too. When making a major decision.
Speaker 2: Never make a major decision impulsively. Take some time to
Speaker 2: think it through, to consider, to pray, to just slow down.
Speaker 2: Some of you are unmarried and you would like to
Speaker 2: be married. I'm gonna give you my best marriage advice
Speaker 2: in two words. Here's ten years of counseling in two words.
Speaker 3: Go slow. Just don't get in a hurry. What happened?
Speaker 2: You go out, you see somebody, You get a quiver
Speaker 2: in your liver, and you're ready to marry him next week?
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 2: And then you think you're going to spend the rest
Speaker 2: of your life with this person? You didn't check him out. No,
Speaker 2: you should go through I tell people when he used
Speaker 2: to do counseling. You should go through all four seasons
Speaker 2: with somebody before you marry him, winter, spring, summer, fall.
Speaker 2: All you gotta do is call go through all four
Speaker 2: seasons with it. You see, here's the problem with dating.
Speaker 2: Dating is such an artificial phony experience. I mean, everybody
Speaker 2: acts their best looks, their best dresses, their best smells,
Speaker 2: their best guy walks up to you, you know, in
Speaker 2: a bar, say hey, can I buy you a drink?
Speaker 2: Where else in the world do you offer a stranger
Speaker 2: to buy them something? Can you imagine you're in sears
Speaker 2: you walk up, Hey, can I buy you a toaster?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Care for a blender?
Speaker 2: You know, really, it's so phony and so fake, and
Speaker 2: it's not the real deal. You gotta see him when
Speaker 2: they're down, when they're up in all the experiences of life.
Speaker 2: You gotta see him when they're when they're upset and
Speaker 2: they're you know, and they're down in every.
Speaker 3: Experience, because that's real life. You see. I just need
Speaker 3: to talk to.
Speaker 2: Our ladies here for just a minute, because I don't
Speaker 2: want broken hearts. You need to understand, ladies, that when
Speaker 2: a man decides he's gonna get married, he's a man
Speaker 2: on a mission, and a man on a mission will
Speaker 2: do things to get to woo a woman he would
Speaker 2: never do in real life, like go to the opera.
Speaker 2: No man would ever go to the opera voluntarily. Okay,
Speaker 2: But but if he's trying to woo a woman, he'll
Speaker 2: go to an opera. He'll talk for three hours on
Speaker 2: the phone. What man does that? Nobody? No, but he'll
Speaker 2: do it during the dating season, okay, and bring flowers
Speaker 2: and all these kind of things. And then once they're married,
Speaker 2: the guy mentally in his mind, he's got a checklist
Speaker 2: and he goes check married. Now I got to go
Speaker 2: to the second thing on the list, weich is I
Speaker 2: got to provide for her. I got a family to
Speaker 2: take care of and I And so all of his
Speaker 2: attention moves from woo the woman done that. Now it's
Speaker 2: support our family, support our marriage. And all of his
Speaker 2: attention moves to the business. And the woman feels like, hey,
Speaker 2: this is bait and switch.
Speaker 3: What happened to the guy who talked to me for
Speaker 3: three hours on the phone. He's working, okay, And so
Speaker 3: I'm just trying.
Speaker 2: To put it out the way it really is that
Speaker 2: you just need to go slow. You know, I heard
Speaker 2: this week about a couple in our church that chose
Speaker 2: to wait ten years to get married for the sake
Speaker 2: of their children from previous marriages. That's unbelievably mature and unselfish.
Speaker 3: What they did is they.
Speaker 2: Dated each other while their little ones, their babies were
Speaker 2: growing up. They remained sexually pure, they kept their vows
Speaker 2: to God, and then once the kids were grown and
Speaker 2: they felt were ready, they got finally got married the
Speaker 2: very soish moon. And by the way, they're on their
Speaker 2: honeymoon right now. Yeah, they're on their honeymoon right now.
Speaker 2: They chose to go slow when they could have gone fast.
Speaker 2: But I guarantee you they saved themselves a lot of
Speaker 2: problems that they might have had if they had just
Speaker 2: rushed into something without even considering all the other players
Speaker 2: in the in the formula when you're.
Speaker 3: Making a major decision.
Speaker 2: Let me show you some Bible verses Proverbs twenty one
Speaker 2: twenty nine. Wicked people bluff their way through life.
Speaker 3: So do some presidential candidates.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, but God's people think before they take a step.
Speaker 2: You gotta think. You got to use the brain. I'm
Speaker 2: waiting for God's will. God gave you his will when
Speaker 2: he gave you a brain, and he says, go slow,
Speaker 2: think before you speak. What major decision are you facing
Speaker 2: right now that you need to slow down on? What
Speaker 2: made your decision? Are you facing right now that you
Speaker 2: Maybe it's retirement or a new job, or I don't
Speaker 2: know what it is. You just need to slow down on.
Speaker 2: Proverbs four twenty six says this, ponder the path of
Speaker 2: your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Circle
Speaker 2: the word ponder. That's an old English word. It just
Speaker 2: means to really seriously think about it. It means to
Speaker 2: carefully consider. When he says ponder the path of your feet,
Speaker 2: He's what he's saying there is carefully consider the direction
Speaker 2: of your life. And he says, if you carefully consider
Speaker 2: the direction of your life, then he says, all your
Speaker 2: ways will be sure.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: What does it mean to carefully? It means to ask yourself,
Speaker 2: what do I need to do today in order to
Speaker 2: get where I want to be tomorrow? Most people never
Speaker 2: ask that question, so they never get to where they
Speaker 2: want to be.
Speaker 3: What do I need to do today?
Speaker 2: The habits, the practices, the savings, the skills, the learning.
Speaker 2: What do I need to do today to get where
Speaker 2: I want to be tomorrow? A lot of people dream
Speaker 2: about tomorrow, but they never ask what do I need
Speaker 2: to do today to get there? That's what it means
Speaker 2: to ponder the path of your feet. Now you can't
Speaker 2: ponder fast, you can only do it slow. It means
Speaker 2: you got to take time, You got to slow down,
Speaker 2: You got to think about it.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: This applies to everywhere of your life career, moves, marriage, ministry, family, finances,
Speaker 2: and everything. Proverbs twenty two, verse three says this, Sensible
Speaker 2: people will see trouble coming because they're pondering the path
Speaker 2: of their feet. They're looking at where they're headed. Sensible
Speaker 2: people will see the trouble coming and avoid it, but
Speaker 2: an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret
Speaker 2: it later.
Speaker 3: By the way, do you.
Speaker 2: Know where we have the numberumber one violation of that
Speaker 2: principle right there?
Speaker 3: Spending spending.
Speaker 2: Sensible people see trouble coming and avoided one thing. You
Speaker 2: pirs walk right into it, regret it later. I know
Speaker 2: I can't afford, I'm gonna buy it because I really want.
Speaker 3: It right now. And it's impulse buying.
Speaker 2: It's buying things you don't need with money you don't
Speaker 2: have to impress people you don't even like, and that
Speaker 2: gets more people into trouble. Why are you in debt
Speaker 2: because of impulse buying? Because you did not plan it.
Speaker 2: You did not ponder the path and had you didn't
Speaker 2: think about it, And so people get in debt. And
Speaker 2: the Bible tells us this, look at a screen. Proverbs
Speaker 2: twenty one. Plan carefully, and you will have plenty. If
Speaker 2: you act too quickly, see that you're going too fast.
Speaker 2: If you act quickly impulse buying, I see it I wanted,
Speaker 2: then you will never have enough. Now, plan carefully. If
Speaker 2: you don't have, if you're living hand in the mouth,
Speaker 2: it's because you have not planned carefully. You can live
Speaker 2: pretty much on any amount if you planned carefully. I
Speaker 2: went through college and seminary with K married on eight
Speaker 2: hundred dollars a month because we've planned.
Speaker 3: Carefully and we made it work.
Speaker 2: And I'm telling you this because we're coming upon the
Speaker 2: Christmas season and Satan's favorite tool is called catalogs to
Speaker 2: create interest in things you never knew. How did you
Speaker 2: live without that until you finally saw it in the catalog?
Speaker 2: So I need to slow down. I need to slow
Speaker 2: down when I don't have the facts. I need to
Speaker 2: slow down when I'm hurt or angry. I need to
Speaker 2: move slowly when I'm making a major decision. And let
Speaker 2: me give you one more. The Bible says, I need
Speaker 2: to move slowly when I'm waiting for a seed I've
Speaker 2: planted to grow. When I'm waiting for a seed that
Speaker 2: I've planted to grow. Now, this is the law of
Speaker 2: the harvest. I taught you a number of years back,
Speaker 2: the nine laws of the harvest. Maybe I should teach
Speaker 2: that again. Because everything starts with a seed. It starts
Speaker 2: with the seed of an idea, an idea for a relationship,
Speaker 2: an idea for a business, idea for a hobby, an
Speaker 2: idea for a work of art, a building architecture. Everything
Speaker 2: starts as the seed of an idea. But it doesn't
Speaker 2: go anywhere unless that seed is planted, and it has
Speaker 2: to be planted in the ground. Once you plant it
Speaker 2: in the ground, there is always a waiting time between
Speaker 2: planting and harvesting. You sow in one season and you
Speaker 2: always reap in another. You never reap in the same season.
Speaker 2: You don't plant a tomato seed and now or go
Speaker 2: out and pick out a tomato. And when you are
Speaker 2: when you have done some planting of seeds in your
Speaker 2: life for good. Then you just have to wait and
Speaker 2: you can't go back out there and you know, dig
Speaker 2: the seed up every five minutes, go are you growing?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: You just have to trust God. You plant seeds, Now
Speaker 2: what am I DMA? You can plant seeds of kindness.
Speaker 2: You can plant seeds of love, you can plant seeds
Speaker 2: financial seeds. You can plant seeds of faith, you can
Speaker 2: plant seeds of goodness, you can plant seeds of integrity.
Speaker 2: Whatever you sow, you will reap. If you plant gossip,
Speaker 2: you're gonna reap gossip. If you plant anger and a
Speaker 2: violent temper, you know what you're gonna reap anger and
Speaker 2: violent temper from other people. You will sow what you reap,
Speaker 2: and you will actually reap more.
Speaker 3: Than you sow.
Speaker 2: When you plant one seed of corn, you don't get
Speaker 2: one seed of corn back. You get a stalk with
Speaker 2: several ears. With thousands of seeds of corn, you always
Speaker 2: get back more than you plant. Positively or negative. You
Speaker 2: can make the law of harvest work for you or
Speaker 2: against you, But it doesn't happen fast. It happens slowly,
Speaker 2: and you just keep waiting. So what do you do
Speaker 2: while you're waiting on God and you're going slow, and
Speaker 2: you're waiting God for some of these seeds you've been
Speaker 2: planning to harvest. You just keep on sowing seed. Here's
Speaker 2: what the next verse says. Ecclesiastes eleven six. Oh, first, here,
Speaker 2: CLESI ask, don't give me the first one. Ecclesiastes three
Speaker 2: one and five says there's a time for everything, and
Speaker 2: a season for every activity under heaven, a time to
Speaker 2: plant and a time to harvest. There is a time
Speaker 2: to scatter, and there's a time to gather. And in
Speaker 2: that in between time, what do you do? You go
Speaker 2: slow and you keep planting. Here's what the next verse says,
Speaker 2: keep on sowing your seed for you never know which
Speaker 2: ones will grow. Perhaps they all will. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like getting your resume out. You get it out to
Speaker 2: one place, you've only planted one seed. You get your
Speaker 2: resume out to one hundred places. There's seeds have been
Speaker 2: planted in one hundred sits, and you will reap according
Speaker 2: to what you sew. Now, I realize that some of
Speaker 2: you have been waiting for some time for the harvest
Speaker 2: in your life, and you know I'm waiting. I'm waiting
Speaker 2: for the harvest. Let me give you a verse to
Speaker 2: encourage you. The Bible says this in a back chapter
Speaker 2: two verse three. God says, at the time I have
Speaker 2: decided my words will come true. You can trust what
Speaker 2: I say about the future. It may take a long time,
Speaker 2: but keep on waiting. It will happen. That's a good verse.
Speaker 2: You might want to cut out and put on your
Speaker 2: refrigerator or put it on the visor in your car.
Speaker 2: God says, at the right time, it will come true.
Speaker 2: It may take a while, but keep waiting.
Speaker 3: It will happen. It goes slow.
Speaker 2: I want to end with a verse that's actually a
Speaker 2: prayer of Solomon from the Bible. In the Book of
Speaker 2: First Kings. It says this, I love it the message
Speaker 2: paraphrase First Kings eight fifty eight. May God keep us
Speaker 2: centered and devoted to him, following the life path he
Speaker 2: has cleared, watching the signpost and walking at the pace
Speaker 2: and rhythm he laid down for our ancestors, and that
Speaker 2: beautiful Let me read it again. May God keep us centered,
Speaker 2: not sidelined, centered not distracted, Centered and devoted to him,
Speaker 2: following the life path he has cleared. Watching the signposts.
Speaker 2: Now you can't see the signposts if you're going to
Speaker 2: do fast and walking, not running at the pace and
Speaker 2: rhythms he laid down for our ancestors. That's my prayer
Speaker 2: for you. Then, before we end, I want to go
Speaker 2: back to that issue of some of you have not
Speaker 2: stepped across the line. Don't I want you to end
Speaker 2: this year not being in the family. So let me
Speaker 2: give you two last verses. Look here on the screen,
Speaker 2: the Bible says. God says, I tell you that the
Speaker 2: right time is now, and the day of salvation is now,
Speaker 2: not next week, not next year, not in another month,
Speaker 2: not when conditions are better. Now is the time to
Speaker 2: have your past forgiven, get a purpose for living, and
Speaker 2: get a home in heaven.
Speaker 3: Where are you going to get that? Deal? And the
Speaker 3: Bible says this in Acts twenty two sixteen.
Speaker 2: Why wait any longer, Get up and be baptized, trusting
Speaker 2: in Him to save you.
Speaker 3: Let's bow our heads.
Speaker 2: Pray this in your mind. Father, Help me to be
Speaker 2: sensitive to your timing. Help me when to go slow,
Speaker 2: help me when to say no, and help me when
Speaker 2: to move fast. Help me to walk in the spirit
Speaker 2: in both the steps and the stops of my life.
Speaker 2: Dear God, when you tell me to do something, I'm
Speaker 2: going to do it immediately. I'm not going to wait anymore.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to delay or procrastinated postpone. When I
Speaker 2: read a command, I'm going to do it. Help me
Speaker 2: to ask or offer forgiveness for the people in my
Speaker 2: life that you know i'm out of source with. Help
Speaker 2: me to not put that off anymore. I don't want
Speaker 2: to go another day with guilt or bitterness or resentment
Speaker 2: stockpiled in my heart. And when I feel tempted, help
Speaker 2: me to run, to not try to argue my way
Speaker 2: out of it, to not flirt with temptation, but to
Speaker 2: just remove myself from the situation if it means che
Speaker 2: in the channel are actually leaving the party, are walking
Speaker 2: out of the room, or moving away from a conversation
Speaker 2: at the office. And Lord, when I've made a promise
Speaker 2: to you, help me to keep it as quickly as possible,
Speaker 2: and help me to see the opportunities for kindness and
Speaker 2: for good you put in my life every day. Help
Speaker 2: me not to withhold good from those who deserve it
Speaker 2: when it's in my power to act and to carry
Speaker 2: out quickly the tasks that you have for my life.
Speaker 2: Because I don't know how long I'm going to live.
Speaker 2: If you've never invited Christ to your life, say, Dear
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, I accept your forgiveness right now. I ask
Speaker 2: you to be my savior because I know I can't
Speaker 2: possibly save myself. I'll never be good enough to get
Speaker 2: into a perfect place, so I need your salvation.
Speaker 3: I want to trust you. And then, Lord, help me
Speaker 3: to move slow. When I don't have all the facts.
Speaker 2: About a project or about a person, and when I'm hurt,
Speaker 2: and when I'm angry, and when I'm depressed, help me
Speaker 2: to go slow. And when I have a major decision
Speaker 2: to make or a major purchase to make.
Speaker 3: Help me to go slow.
Speaker 2: And help me to wait in faith to see the
Speaker 2: harvest of the seeds that I'm planting every day.
Speaker 3: And I humbly ask this in Jesus's name. Amen.
Speaker 2: You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the
Speaker 2: very first time, or you just recommitted your life to
Speaker 2: Jesus again today, would you let me know about it.
Speaker 2: There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me
Speaker 2: Rick at pastorick dot com and say, Rick, I prayed
Speaker 2: that prayer of commitment. I gave my life to Christ
Speaker 2: and I'll send you some material that will help you
Speaker 2: on your journey with Jesus, and I'll also pray for you.
Speaker 3: God bless you.
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: Hi, everybody, you know God often uses the hardship in
Speaker 2: our lives to prepare our hearts for his message that
Speaker 2: he wants to give us. And that's what a woman
Speaker 2: named Dianna believes happened when her world just collapsed all
Speaker 2: around her. Dianna wrote to me and saying this, Pastor Rick,
Speaker 2: it's been on my heart to send you this.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I hit a very low valley in my life and
Speaker 2: I finally figured I must be doing life wrong. I
Speaker 2: had lost my job, I lost my husband, and I
Speaker 2: almost died from birth compass. I went from a high paying,
Speaker 2: high profile, white collar job to picking up cigarette butts
Speaker 2: and vacuuming construction job sites to support myself and my
Speaker 2: son as a single mom. But I started listening to
Speaker 2: your Daily Hope podcast on the way to work, and
Speaker 2: I later listened to all that I could during my
Speaker 2: time vacuuming and cleaning. One day, on my way to work,
Speaker 2: driving up a mountain road and going around a corner,
Speaker 2: I heard you give a call to anyone who had
Speaker 2: not yet given their life to Jesus. And you know what,
Speaker 2: I prayed with you. That prayer and Jesus has been
Speaker 2: in my heart ever since, and I am so grateful.
Speaker 2: It actually is bringing tears to my eyes. Deanna, did
Speaker 2: you know God created you just in order to love you,
Speaker 2: and He's so pleased to accept.
Speaker 3: You into forever family.
Speaker 2: In fact, the Bible says that the angels had a
Speaker 2: party in heaven when you opened your life to Christ
Speaker 2: and received Him into your life. And guess what, I'm
Speaker 2: celebrating with them right now.
Speaker 3: Welcome.
Speaker 2: You're now my sister and Lord, and I'll see you
Speaker 2: in heaven, if not sooner. Now, I want to thank
Speaker 2: all the rest of you who support Daily Hope, because
Speaker 2: it's because of your support that Deanna was able to
Speaker 2: hear the Daily Hope messages while driving in a car.
Speaker 2: You know, when we get to Heaven, it's going to
Speaker 2: be really fun to meet all the people who are
Speaker 2: there because you helped share the Gospel with people all
Speaker 2: around the world.
Speaker 3: Through Daily Hope. So thank you friends.
Speaker 1: We sure hope you've been encouraged by Pastor Rick's Daily
Speaker 1: Hope and if you have, would you consider supporting us?
Speaker 1: Just go to pastorick dot com again, that's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: Hey be sure to join us next time when we
Speaker 1: look into God's word for our daily hope. This program
Speaker 1: is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous
Speaker 1: financial support