Speaker 1: Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope. Well today we continue in our series called
Speaker 1: God's Prescription for a Healthy Life. In it, Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: will show you how to improve your health physically, spiritually,
Speaker 1: relationally and emotionally by applying the five essentials needed for.
Speaker 2: A more vibrant life.
Speaker 1: If you want to have what it takes to live
Speaker 1: out your calling in life, stay with us for this
Speaker 1: amazing series. Now, in just a few moments, we're going
Speaker 1: to tell you about the Daniel Plan DVD study Kit,
Speaker 1: a sixth session video based study by Rick Warren, doctor
Speaker 1: Daniel Aman, and doctor Mark Hyman. This out of the
Speaker 1: box approach to a healthy lifestyle is based on five
Speaker 1: essentials faith, food, fitness, focus and friends. You can find
Speaker 1: out more right now by going to Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: While you listen to today's man or you can just
Speaker 1: text the word daily to eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four. That's Pastorick dot com. Or the word
Speaker 1: daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with part two of a
Speaker 1: message called winning with the Hand your dealt.
Speaker 2: Any artist knows that they'll often create a flaw in
Speaker 2: a picture or in a vase or in a piece
Speaker 2: of pottery to say, there's nothing else like this in
Speaker 2: the world. It has this unique flaw in it. I
Speaker 2: collect old bibles. Bibles that have printing mistakes in them
Speaker 2: are actually more valuable than those with no mistakes. They
Speaker 2: cost far much, far more as an antique. The flaw
Speaker 2: creates the uniqueness. Your genes have intentional flaws to create
Speaker 2: your uniqueness, and your flaws are a part of your
Speaker 2: custom design. And God designed you, and he even uses
Speaker 2: those flaws for his purpose and his glory. The Bible
Speaker 2: calls them, Paul calls them my thorn in the flesh.
Speaker 2: Now we don't actually know what Paul's thorn in the
Speaker 2: flesh was. We know some kind of physical or mental disability.
Speaker 2: We're not sure a physical or mental disability that Paul
Speaker 2: carried all of his life. And Paul says, it forces
Speaker 2: me to be dependent upon God. In fact, he told
Speaker 2: the Galatians, the people in the city of Galatia or
Speaker 2: the Ara Galatia in Greece, this here on the screen
Speaker 2: Glatians four thirteen. He says, you remember, you, guys, that
Speaker 2: it was because of an illness. It was because of
Speaker 2: an illness that I came to you the first time
Speaker 2: preaching the good News. God used even an illness to
Speaker 2: get the gospel out. And this happened in Paul's life.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure the Galatians were glad that Paul got
Speaker 2: sick because he ended up going to Glacia for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: we don't know why. And while who's there, he taught
Speaker 2: the good News and those people say, we're going to
Speaker 2: go to heaven. So thank God Paul got sick. The
Speaker 2: first characteristic in your life that makes you you is
Speaker 2: your biology, your body, your chemistry. Now the second thing
Speaker 2: that determines your identity is connections. My connections, my chemistry
Speaker 2: and my connections. My connections are my relationships in life.
Speaker 2: You are a product of your relationships, especially your early
Speaker 2: years relationships. Now, those relationships may have been good, or
Speaker 2: they may have been bad. They may have been healthy,
Speaker 2: they may have been unhealthy, may have been nonexistent, or
Speaker 2: they may have been abusive. But you are a product
Speaker 2: of your relationships, particularly those early year relationships. Study after study,
Speaker 2: I've told you this before, has shown that your identity,
Speaker 2: how you you see yourself, is largely determined by what
Speaker 2: you think the most important people in your life think
Speaker 2: of you. What you think the most important people in
Speaker 2: your life think of you tends to determine your self image,
Speaker 2: your self esteem, your self concept. And that's why I've
Speaker 2: told you many times, make sure Jesus is the most
Speaker 2: important person in your life, because he's going to love
Speaker 2: you unconditionally, and he's going to tell you the truth.
Speaker 2: So the connections in your life, your relationships, help determine
Speaker 2: your identity. My connections give my life meaning, My connections
Speaker 2: give my life purpose, and my connections give my life identity.
Speaker 2: If you grew up feeling disconnected from other people, you
Speaker 2: have a hard time with meaning in your life. You
Speaker 2: have a hard time with purpose in your life. You
Speaker 2: have a hard time with your identity. People who have
Speaker 2: really healthy connections, healthy relation they're not going does my
Speaker 2: life matter? They never ask that. They know their life
Speaker 2: matters because there are healthy relationships in their life. But
Speaker 2: if you feel disconnected, if you feel dysfunction in your relationships,
Speaker 2: it affects your identity, It affects your meaning and purpose.
Speaker 2: Why because life's all about relationships. One day Jesus is
Speaker 2: walking down the street. The guy comes up and says, Lord,
Speaker 2: what's life all about? Jesus says, life is all about love.
Speaker 2: It's not about accomplishment. It's not about acquisition, you know,
Speaker 2: it's not about popularity or power or prestige. It's about love.
Speaker 2: It's about relationships. He says. You can summarize all of
Speaker 2: life in two sentences. Love God with all your heart,
Speaker 2: and love your neighbors yourself. Be connected to God, be
Speaker 2: connected to each other. Be in harmony with God. Be
Speaker 2: in harmony with each other. Make the connection with God,
Speaker 2: make the connection with others. He said. If you don't
Speaker 2: have that, you miss the purpose of life. It's all
Speaker 2: about love. It's all about relationships. And if you don't
Speaker 2: understand that, then you wonder why your life lacks meaning.
Speaker 2: This is called the Great Commandment. Now in this second
Speaker 2: factor in my life, the second card, my connections card.
Speaker 2: There are three problems with this. One of them I
Speaker 2: already mentioned is we're all imperfect. And since we're all imperfect,
Speaker 2: there are no perfect relationships. That causes problems in our lives.
Speaker 2: We hurt each other, we have conflict with each other,
Speaker 2: we have stress, we misunderstand each other. Second sin, sin
Speaker 2: disconnects us. It disconnects us from God. All of sin
Speaker 2: and fallen short, we are separated from God and disconnects
Speaker 2: us from each other. We can see this in the
Speaker 2: very first couple, Adam and Eve. They had a perfect relationship.
Speaker 2: They were in love, they had no conflict, they had
Speaker 2: no disharmony. Everything's going great. And God says, guys, you
Speaker 2: can do anything you want to in this garden, the
Speaker 2: garden of Eden. Here's just one thing you can't do.
Speaker 2: Don't eat that fruit right there.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: God didn't give him ten things to not do or
Speaker 2: one hundred things. He only gave him one. Why did
Speaker 2: he give him one? Because he had to give him
Speaker 2: a choice, because it's not love if you don't have
Speaker 2: a choice. If I can't choose to not love you,
Speaker 2: then it's not If I'm forced to love you, it's
Speaker 2: not love. So God gave him the minimum temptation, one thing.
Speaker 2: You can do anything you want to, but just this
Speaker 2: one thing. And what do they do. They head for
Speaker 2: the one thing they're not supposed to do. And as
Speaker 2: I've said many times, after they sand the atom takes
Speaker 2: it like a man, and he blames his wife, and
Speaker 2: he says, when God says, what did you do, Adam,
Speaker 2: He goes, my Lord, the woman you gave me, gave
Speaker 2: me this fruit to eat. Now I know he's not
Speaker 2: only blaming Eve, he's blaming God, God, the woman you
Speaker 2: gave me. He saying, God, if you hadn't brought this
Speaker 2: female in my life, we'd be like this. Okay, things
Speaker 2: would be copasetic, thing would be great. But you brought
Speaker 2: this woman into my life. And therefore, God, it's really
Speaker 2: your fault. He starts blaming. And we have been doing
Speaker 2: it ever since, accusing, an excuse, using, accusing and excusing,
Speaker 2: accusing and excusing. We accuse others and excuse ourselves. We
Speaker 2: hide our faults and we hurl at others. And we've
Speaker 2: been doing it ever since. And that affects our connections. Now,
Speaker 2: once they sin, they not only feel disconnected from God.
Speaker 2: Adam and Eve suddenly feel disconnected from each other. And
Speaker 2: what's it said? It says they win. And they sewed
Speaker 2: clothing out of fig leaves and started covering up. Who
Speaker 2: told them to cover up? God didn't. Who told him
Speaker 2: it was wrong to be naked? God didn't. Who told
Speaker 2: them they had to hide from each other in their marriage?
Speaker 2: God didn't, sinded Sin died, and we have been covering
Speaker 2: up ever since, our vulnerabilities, our defects, our faults, and
Speaker 2: we don't be rear with each other, and we fake
Speaker 2: it even with those we love the most. And that
Speaker 2: is what sin does. It causes us to cover up.
Speaker 2: And men and women and people have been covering up
Speaker 2: ever since, not just physically but emotionally. And that connection
Speaker 2: card has caused all kinds of damage in your life
Speaker 2: because nobody's perfect and sin disconnects us. But here's the
Speaker 2: third problem with this card. The more disconnected I am,
Speaker 2: the more fearful I become. Fear comes from disconnection. When
Speaker 2: I feel disconnected from God, I fear God. When I
Speaker 2: feel disconnected from you, I fear you. When I feel
Speaker 2: disconnected at a party, I fear everybody at the party.
Speaker 2: Disconnection causes fear. And if you grew up feeling disconnected,
Speaker 2: you have a hard time trusting other people. It's part
Speaker 2: of the way your identity has been formed. Now what
Speaker 2: happens is we get caught in this dilemma, and it
Speaker 2: is a terrible dilemma because we crave connection, We crave it,
Speaker 2: we deeply crave, but we fear making connections. We crave intimacy.
Speaker 2: We crave it. We crave intimacy, but we fear vulnerability,
Speaker 2: which is the only way you get intimacy.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional
Speaker 1: at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: The truth is most of us don't pay much attention
Speaker 3: to our health until something goes wrong. We put on
Speaker 3: a couple of pounds every year and think no big deal, right,
Speaker 3: But a few pounds over five or ten years really
Speaker 3: adds up and it can even lead to major illnesses
Speaker 3: like diabetes and heart disease. That's why Pastor Rick work
Speaker 3: together with medical and fitness experts to create the Daniel
Speaker 3: Plan Study. The sixth session DVD and workbook study kit
Speaker 3: from Rick Warren, doctor Daniel Aman, and doctor Mark Hyman
Speaker 3: is an out of the box approach to a healthy
Speaker 3: lifestyle based on five essentials faith, food, fitness, focus and friends.
Speaker 3: The Daniel Plan Study gives individuals in small groups the
Speaker 3: encouragement and accountability needed to succeed. If you've been watching
Speaker 3: the scale go up lately, or your health is in
Speaker 3: trouble because of your weight, It's not too late. Join
Speaker 3: the thousands of people who've lost weight, improve their health
Speaker 3: and improved their relationships through the Daniel Plan. We'll send
Speaker 3: you a copy of the Daniel Plan DVD Steady Kid
Speaker 3: to say thanks when you give a gift to Daily
Speaker 3: Hope to help share the Hope of Jesus with people
Speaker 3: around the world. Just go to Pastrick dot com to
Speaker 3: get your copy, or you can call eight hundred six
Speaker 3: hundred five zero zero four. That's Pastrick dot com. Or
Speaker 3: call eight hundred six hundred five zero zero four and
Speaker 3: thank you so much for your support.
Speaker 1: Once again, here's Rick.
Speaker 2: We crave intimacy. We crave it. We crave intimacy, but
Speaker 2: we fear vulnerability, which is the only way you get intimacy.
Speaker 2: It's like we want one without the other. And I'm
Speaker 2: not just talking about sexual intimacy. I'm talking about in
Speaker 2: every area of your life, that deep, soul searching, heart
Speaker 2: to heart. I'm totally understood, you totally understand me, and
Speaker 2: we accept each other and love each other. We crave that,
Speaker 2: but we fear the vulnerability. We crave acceptance, but we
Speaker 2: fear rejection, and that forms your identity. There's a third
Speaker 2: card that makes you you. My chemistry, that's my biology,
Speaker 2: my body, my connections, that's my relationship. The third card
Speaker 2: that makes you you, it makes me me, is my circumstances.
Speaker 2: These are the things that happen to you. These are
Speaker 2: the things that happen around you. None of these things
Speaker 2: were in your control. You didn't choose your chemistry, you
Speaker 2: didn't choose your initial connections, and you certainly haven't chosen
Speaker 2: all your circumstances. The things that happened to you and
Speaker 2: the things that happen around you help shape your identity.
Speaker 2: You are a product of the traumas and the troubles
Speaker 2: in your life. You are a product of the suffering
Speaker 2: and the shame and the shock and the stress. Problems
Speaker 2: shape your life. Pressures shape your life. Pain shapes your life.
Speaker 2: If you've ever been abused, I'm sorry, but your abuse
Speaker 2: has affected your identity, whether those physical, emotional, sexual, or whatever.
Speaker 2: And I'm sorry, but it has affected your identity. If
Speaker 2: you've ever experienced rejection, that has affected your identity. If
Speaker 2: you've ever had a failure or a series of fails,
Speaker 2: a major failure in life that has affected your identity,
Speaker 2: and you start telling yourself things over and over. If
Speaker 2: you had a crisis, if you had a catastrophe. These
Speaker 2: are all things that leave scars on your identity. It's
Speaker 2: part of what you were dealt in life. There's a
Speaker 2: fourth card, a fourth factor that makes you you, and
Speaker 2: this is a big one. It's what I call my consciousness.
Speaker 2: My consciousness and my consciousness. I want you to write
Speaker 2: this down. Is how I talk to myself. That's your consciousness.
Speaker 2: How I talk to myself, how you think about you.
Speaker 2: I remember one time I was preaching on John seventeen,
Speaker 2: which is Jesus prayer to the Father, where Jesus in
Speaker 2: the guard of the gassemite before the cross is talking
Speaker 2: to God the Father, and people don't get that. They say,
Speaker 2: that's kind of weird God talking to God. How can
Speaker 2: God talk to himself? Oh, you never do that. You
Speaker 2: do it all the time. You're doing it right now.
Speaker 2: He said, good point, Rick, or that point sucked?
Speaker 3: Rick?
Speaker 2: That wasn't any good, you know? And how soon do
Speaker 2: we get out of here? You're talking to yourself constantly, constantly.
Speaker 2: There is never a time in your life when you
Speaker 2: are not talking to you. Now. If you talk to
Speaker 2: your friends the way you talk to you, they wouldn't
Speaker 2: be your friends. Because you are your toughest critic. And
Speaker 2: by the way you lie to yourself all the time,
Speaker 2: the Bible says, the heart is deceitful. You lie to
Speaker 2: yourself more than you lie to anybody else. You tell
Speaker 2: yourself things that just aren't true, but you believe them. Now.
Speaker 2: Your consciousness influences your identity. What I say to me now,
Speaker 2: what other people said to me. They said, you're no good,
Speaker 2: you're worthless, you'll never mount anything, you're uncoordinated, you aren't
Speaker 2: very attractive, you're a loser, blah blah blah. And you
Speaker 2: filed that, but then you started repeating it, and you
Speaker 2: start saying it over and over. Yeah, it's just like
Speaker 2: me to be this, it's just like me to be there.
Speaker 2: And you've had it over and over and over, and
Speaker 2: it got deeper and deeper in your consciousness. Your habitual
Speaker 2: thoughts are your identity. What you think about you, that's
Speaker 2: your identity. The Bible says, this, look up here on
Speaker 2: the screen Proverbs twenty three to seven. For as a
Speaker 2: man thinks in his heart, so he is what you
Speaker 2: think about you. That's you, whether it's true or not.
Speaker 2: Proverbs four twenty three says this here on the screen.
Speaker 2: Be careful, Be careful what you think, because your thoughts
Speaker 2: run your life, and if you want your life to
Speaker 2: go in a different direction, you're going to have to
Speaker 2: direct those thoughts in a different direction. And here's the
Speaker 2: amazing thing I just mentioned it. When you think thought,
Speaker 2: it doesn't have to be true to hurt you. You
Speaker 2: just have to believe it. And so if somebody says
Speaker 2: you're never going to mount it, and you believe it,
Speaker 2: guess what, You're never gonna amount to anything. If you
Speaker 2: tell yourself this marriage isn't going to last, it isn't
Speaker 2: gonna last. The person who says I can and the
Speaker 2: person who says I can't are both right. For as
Speaker 2: a man thinketh so is he Be careful what you
Speaker 2: think because your thoughts run your life. And if you
Speaker 2: think a thought long enough, you become it, and if
Speaker 2: you believe it about yourself, you act it out. Here's
Speaker 2: the problem. You know, those fears you've got that you
Speaker 2: keep going over and over and over in your mind.
Speaker 2: Our fears are often self fulfilling. We sabotage ourselves. We
Speaker 2: set ourselves up. Job chapter three, verse twenty five. You
Speaker 2: know what happened to Job? And in Job chapter three,
Speaker 2: verse twenty five, Job says this, what I have always
Speaker 2: feared has happened to me. What I have always feared
Speaker 2: has happened to me, and what I dreaded has come
Speaker 2: to be a self fulfilling prophecy. That's the problem with
Speaker 2: fear is but fears can become reality. We start acting
Speaker 2: in that way. I'm afraid to do this, and so
Speaker 2: then you are afraid to do this. I'm afraid I
Speaker 2: can't do this. Then you can't do that. You say, well, Rick,
Speaker 2: there's nothing I could do to change. Are you sure?
Speaker 2: You have to challenge your thoughts. You have to challenge
Speaker 2: your misperceptions constantly or they're gonna dominate your life and
Speaker 2: send you in the wrong direction because you tell yourself
Speaker 2: self all the time, well, I can never change. Are
Speaker 2: you sure? I want you to write this down. Feelings
Speaker 2: aren't facts. Feelings aren't facts. I feel unattractive doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you are well. I feel fat doesn't mean you are well.
Speaker 2: I feel nobody would ever want to marry me. Are
Speaker 2: you sure? Feelings aren't facts, they're feelings, and feelings lie
Speaker 2: all the time. So my consciousness affects my identity. But
Speaker 2: there's a fifth card, and this fifth card is so
Speaker 2: important because it controls all the other cards. The fifth
Speaker 2: card that makes me me is my choices. My choices. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible says that you were created in the image
Speaker 2: of God. Nobody else. No other animals are created in
Speaker 2: the image of the Cows aren't created in the image
Speaker 2: of God. Rabbits aren't created a the image of God.
Speaker 2: Monkeys aren't created in the image of God. Only human
Speaker 2: beings are created in the image of God. What does
Speaker 2: that mean? What it means a lot of things, But
Speaker 2: one of the things that means is this, you have
Speaker 2: a free moral choice. Dogs can't make moral choices. They
Speaker 2: have instincts, but they don't know the differ between right
Speaker 2: and wrong. Cats, elephants can't make moral choices. There are
Speaker 2: no ethics to an elephant. There's no morality to an elephant.
Speaker 2: You have the choice to choose. That's because you're made
Speaker 2: in God's image. God made Angels don't have that choice,
Speaker 2: but you do. You have a choose to do right
Speaker 2: or wrong. Now, the freedom of choice is your greatest blessing.
Speaker 2: It is also your greatest curse because we make stupid
Speaker 2: choices all the time. We make self defeating choices. We
Speaker 2: make harmful choices that harm ourselves, our bodies, our circumstances,
Speaker 2: and everybody around us, and so it becomes a negative
Speaker 2: thing in our lives. It's a blessing, but it's also
Speaker 2: a curse. But here's the good news about this card.
Speaker 2: Listene right here. God says it's a wild card. It's
Speaker 2: the wild card. And this card can change the suit
Speaker 2: and the number of any of the other cards you're dealt.
Speaker 2: This is the wild card. Your choices can determine these
Speaker 2: other cards. Now, I didn't get to choose my chemistry,
Speaker 2: but I can't choose what I do with my body
Speaker 2: and how I make the most of what I've got.
Speaker 2: That's my choice, and I can choose to do the
Speaker 2: best I can with what I've got. I didn't choose
Speaker 2: all of my relationships, but I can't choose how I
Speaker 2: respond to them. And I can choose new relationships, and
Speaker 2: I can choose to learn relational skills, and I can
Speaker 2: choose a lot of things that will change my connections.
Speaker 1: This is pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are so glad
Speaker 1: you're with us today, and if you'd like to receive
Speaker 1: rix free daily devotional, go to Pastorick dot com and
Speaker 1: sign up right now. Rick will be back in just
Speaker 1: a moment to close out our time today. But first,
Speaker 1: the truth is that most of us don't pay much
Speaker 1: attention to our health until something goes wrong. We put
Speaker 1: on a couple of pounds every year and think no
Speaker 1: big deal, right A few pounds over five or ten
Speaker 1: years can really add up. That's why Pastor Rick Warren
Speaker 1: has put together the Daniel Plan DVD Study Kit. This
Speaker 1: six session video based study by Rick Warren, doctor Daniel
Speaker 1: Ahman and doctor Mark Hyman is an out of the
Speaker 1: box approach to a healthy lifestyle based on five essentials faith, food, fitness,
Speaker 1: focus and friends. The Daniel Planned Study Kit gives individuals
Speaker 1: the encouragement and accountability needed to succeed. If you've been
Speaker 1: watching the scale go up lately, or your health is
Speaker 1: in trouble because of your weight, it's not too late
Speaker 1: to join join the more than fifteen thousand people who've
Speaker 1: lost weight, improve their health and improve their relationships by
Speaker 1: ordering the Daniel Plan DVD Study kit.
Speaker 2: Let us send you a.
Speaker 1: Copy of the Daniel Plan DVD study kit as our
Speaker 1: way of saying thanks for your financial support of this minac.
Speaker 1: Just go to Pastorrick dot com right now to get
Speaker 1: your copy, or you can call eight hundred six hundred
Speaker 1: five thousand and four. That's pastornk dot com. Or call
Speaker 1: eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four and thank
Speaker 1: you so much.
Speaker 2: For your support.
Speaker 1: Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: You know, I want to just thank every one of
Speaker 2: you for your generous support. People all over the world
Speaker 2: are now listening to Daily Hope because of your financial support.
Speaker 2: Let me read your letter from Roda, who lives in
Speaker 2: Papua New Guinea. Do you even know where that is?
Speaker 2: It's down toward Australia, Rhoda wrote, I want to let
Speaker 2: you know that the Daily Hope has helped change my
Speaker 2: views toward life because you share from the Word of God.
Speaker 2: She said, I've recommended Daily Hope to all my workmates
Speaker 2: and since then, the life of one of my colleagues
Speaker 2: has changed and she's always thankful for your sharing. We
Speaker 2: listen to Daily Hope every day, so I'm praying for
Speaker 2: you Rick well, thank you, thank you for your note, Rhoda,
Speaker 2: and thank you for writing all the way from Papua
Speaker 2: New Guinea. And thank those of you who are supporting
Speaker 2: this ministry so that we can reach people like Rhoda.
Speaker 2: I'm glad you're living out God's principles in your daily life. Rooda,
Speaker 2: and I want to say thanks to all of you
Speaker 2: for your support and join me next time as we
Speaker 2: continue to look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to let Rick know how this broadcast
Speaker 1: has blessed you, please feel free to send him an
Speaker 1: email at Rick at Pastorick dot com. That's Rick at
Speaker 1: pastorick dot com. Be sure to join us again next
Speaker 1: time as we look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and
Speaker 1: your generous financial support