Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Well, today, we begin a series
Speaker 1: called Better Together. In this series, Rick takes us through
Speaker 1: First Corinthians chapter thirteen and shows us how to cultivate deep,
Speaker 1: meaningful relationships with the people around us. In just a
Speaker 1: few moments, we're going to tell you how you can
Speaker 1: get a copy of Pastor Rick's book called God's Power
Speaker 1: to Change Your Life. In it, you'll discover how God
Speaker 1: provides the power you need to take you from where
Speaker 1: you are to where you want to be. Find out
Speaker 1: more by going to Pastorick dot com or by texting
Speaker 1: the word daily to eight hundred, six hundred five thousand
Speaker 1: and four while you listen to today's message, that's Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com or the word Daily to eight hundred, six
Speaker 1: hundred five thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: Warren with part one of a message called Why We
Speaker 1: Need each Other.
Speaker 2: Today is the beginning of a revolution, and it's going
Speaker 2: to start with a very radical counterculture message. What I
Speaker 2: want to talk to you about this morning is the
Speaker 2: exact opposite of what you've been taught most of your life.
Speaker 2: But God promises that if you'll do this, if you'll
Speaker 2: do it his way, that you'll never again have to
Speaker 2: struggle with loneliness, you'll be able to overcome things like
Speaker 2: fatigue and fear and frustration and failure. That if you'll
Speaker 2: do what he talks about, you'll be able to handle
Speaker 2: depression and despair and have that replaced with hope. It
Speaker 2: is the concept of community. Now as Americans, we idolize independence.
Speaker 2: In America, we have the Declaration of Independence. We like
Speaker 2: songs like I gotta be me, I'll do it, I
Speaker 2: don't need anybody to tell me what it's all about.
Speaker 2: And we honor the loan ranger. We love the lone ranger,
Speaker 2: of course, even the lone ranger at Tonto. But we
Speaker 2: like the idea of being totally independent, and we have
Speaker 2: bought into a myth that says that the key to
Speaker 2: happiness is independence. If I have relational independence, financial independence,
Speaker 2: and independence in every other area of my life. If
Speaker 2: I don't let anybody get too close to me, but
Speaker 2: I'm totally self sufficient, then I will be happy. And
Speaker 2: yet every year the suicide rate tends to rise. Obviously
Speaker 2: that's not true. And God says that the key to
Speaker 2: happiness is not independence, but interdependence. That we need each other,
Speaker 2: We belong to each other. We need community in our lives.
Speaker 2: And God wired you to go through life not as
Speaker 2: a solitary individual, but in community. Notice at the top
Speaker 2: of your outline what the Bible says. It's chapter twelve.
Speaker 2: Why don't you read it aloud with me together? Since
Speaker 2: we are all one body in Christ, we belong to
Speaker 2: each other, and each of us needs all the others.
Speaker 2: Once you turn the person next you and say you
Speaker 2: need me, all right, you need me? Now, I want
Speaker 2: you to turn them and say I need you. Go ahead,
Speaker 2: all right. Now we just add over one hundred and
Speaker 2: fifty wedding proposals. I'll be doing the special outside two
Speaker 2: for one. Let's call me Mary and Rick matchmaker me. Now.
Speaker 2: The truth is we need each other. God says community
Speaker 2: is not optional. You may not feel it. You may
Speaker 2: feel like and I'm very selfsuished and I don't need other
Speaker 2: people in my life. But the truth is you absolutely
Speaker 2: have to have other people in your life if you're
Speaker 2: going to be all God wants you to be. Today,
Speaker 2: I want us to start a journey on an even
Speaker 2: bigger idea and that is, you can not fulfill God's
Speaker 2: purposes for your life by yourself. There's no way. There's
Speaker 2: no way you can be all God wants you to be,
Speaker 2: do all God wants you to do, fulfill the purposes
Speaker 2: you were put on this planet to fulfill by yourself.
Speaker 2: You have to do it in relationship to other people.
Speaker 2: We need each other and we belong to each other
Speaker 2: in the body of Christ. So today we're going to
Speaker 2: focus on the greatest lesson in life, that is learning
Speaker 2: how to love. Why do relationships go bad? How do
Speaker 2: you turn a bad relationship into a good one. What
Speaker 2: is it that God does when he uses other people
Speaker 2: in our lives? And how does He do it to
Speaker 2: make us what He wants us to be? And so
Speaker 2: we're going to discuss and discover what it really means
Speaker 2: to develop true intimate relationships. Today, I want to give
Speaker 2: you a little introduction and we're going to look at
Speaker 2: why we need each other, why we need God's family,
Speaker 2: and specifically the five reasons God says you need other
Speaker 2: people in your life and really why you need a
Speaker 2: small group. So let's get right into it first. If
Speaker 2: you're taken notes, I need others to walk with me,
Speaker 2: I need others to walk with me. What does that mean?
Speaker 2: It means I need him to help me grow spiritually.
Speaker 2: Look at this verse Colossus two six and seven says,
Speaker 2: just as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so read
Speaker 2: it with me walk in him. Did you know that
Speaker 2: the Bible often compares life to a walk? Why? Because
Speaker 2: you're on a journey. You don't just sit still in life.
Speaker 2: You're not where you used to be, You're not where
Speaker 2: you're gonna be. You're on a journey. And so it
Speaker 2: calls the spiritual life or the Christian life a walk.
Speaker 2: And throughout the New Testament, we're told to walk in wisdom,
Speaker 2: to walk in love, to walk in light. We're told
Speaker 2: to walk in obedience, in the spirit, where, to walk
Speaker 2: as Jesus walk, and many many other ways the Bible
Speaker 2: tells us that we are to live life. But one
Speaker 2: of the key ways that God tells us to walk
Speaker 2: is this. You were never meant to walk through life alone.
Speaker 2: You were never meant to walk through life alone. Now,
Speaker 2: this has nothing to do whether you're single or married,
Speaker 2: nothing at all. We have thousands of single adults in
Speaker 2: our church who are very involved in deep intimate meaningful community.
Speaker 2: We also have married couples in this church who are
Speaker 2: desperately lonely. Marriage does not solve the issue. Community does. Now,
Speaker 2: somebody said, well, Rick, what's wrong with walking alone? I
Speaker 2: like walking along? In fact, I prefer it. I can
Speaker 2: go at my own pace, my own speed, I don't
Speaker 2: have to wait for anybody or whatever. I like walking alone. Well,
Speaker 2: you may like it, but you need others to walk
Speaker 2: with you. Let me give you three reasons. You can
Speaker 2: just write these down in the margin because I got
Speaker 2: a lot to tell you today. Number One, it's safer.
Speaker 2: It's safer. Walking through life with other people in your
Speaker 2: life is safer. It's less risky. You ever had to
Speaker 2: walk through a dark alley at night inner city by
Speaker 2: yourself can be a little scary, Or walk down a
Speaker 2: long road in the countryside by yourself, it can be scary.
Speaker 2: It's safer to walk through life with others. Number Two,
Speaker 2: it's supportive. What I mean by that is it keeps
Speaker 2: you from giving up. When you're walking with other people,
Speaker 2: you get the energy to keep on going that you
Speaker 2: wouldn't have. Have you ever been in a marathon where
Speaker 2: you're running this marathon and then you know you start
Speaker 2: getting the stitch in your side, you start getting a
Speaker 2: little pain there, and you want to give up. You
Speaker 2: know what I'm talking about. Usually happens to me about
Speaker 2: mile twenty. Actually step twenty is when it happens to
Speaker 2: me step twenty and you start going, you know, I
Speaker 2: can't go on. I'm not gonna be able to do this.
Speaker 2: I want to give up. But if you have other
Speaker 2: people walking with you, you keep on going. There's an
Speaker 2: old Zambian parable that says, or proverb that says, when
Speaker 2: you run alone, you run fast, but when you run together,
Speaker 2: you run far.
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: If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can
Speaker 1: listen online anytime at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: What does it take to become more loving, live more peacefully,
Speaker 3: develop patience, have self control? Pastor Rick says, throughout all
Speaker 3: the years he's been a pastor, the number one question
Speaker 3: he's been asked is why can't I change? People want
Speaker 3: to change, but they're stuck. Maybe you feel that way too.
Speaker 3: In his book, God's Power to change your life. Rick
Speaker 3: lays the groundwork for personal transformation, then offers biblical insights
Speaker 3: and simple steps for ten areas of growth that can
Speaker 3: take you from where you are to where you want
Speaker 3: to be. This book connects you with the power to
Speaker 3: actually make the changes you long to make. And as
Speaker 3: you apply the truth of God word by the power
Speaker 3: of His Spirit, your life will change. You'll move out
Speaker 3: of your run and get on track with God's wonderful
Speaker 3: purposes for your life. And today, when you give a
Speaker 3: gift to Daily Hope to help take the hope of
Speaker 3: Jesus to people everywhere, we'll send you a copy of
Speaker 3: God's Power to Change your Life. Just go to Pastororrick
Speaker 3: dot com right now to get your copy, or you
Speaker 3: can call eight hundred at six hundred five zero zero
Speaker 3: four that's Pastorick dot com. Or call eight hundred at
Speaker 3: six hundred five zero zero four and be sure to
Speaker 3: let us know which station you heard us on. Thank
Speaker 3: you so much for your support.
Speaker 1: Now let's get back to today's lesson. Here on Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: There's an old Zambian parable that says a proverb that says,
Speaker 2: when you run alone, you run fast, but when you
Speaker 2: run together, you run far. Good word, good word. You see,
Speaker 2: life is not a fifty yard dash. It is a marathon.
Speaker 2: And you want to make it to the end of life.
Speaker 2: And the only way you're gonna make it to the
Speaker 2: end of life, the way God wants you to, is
Speaker 2: by having other people involved in your life. If you've
Speaker 2: ever watched during the fall, when a flock of geese
Speaker 2: are flying south and they're in v formation, do you
Speaker 2: know why they do that? Because it creates an uplift
Speaker 2: in the backdraft, and it makes it easier and they
Speaker 2: can fly farther and longer when they fly together. The
Speaker 2: same is true in your life. You're gonna burn out
Speaker 2: in life if you go through it without any meaningful
Speaker 2: intimate relationships. It's safer, it's supported. Not only that it's smarter,
Speaker 2: it's just smarter to go through life with a few
Speaker 2: really close, deep friends. You learn more by walking with
Speaker 2: others than you do by yourself. Proverbs twenty eight twenty
Speaker 2: six says only fools trust in what they think alone,
Speaker 2: what they alone think. In other words, if I'm the
Speaker 2: only one who thinks nobody else agrees with, guess what
Speaker 2: I'm wrong. Okay, you may be walking in the wrong direction.
Speaker 2: But if you're walking by yourself through life, you know,
Speaker 2: everybody goes, hey, we're off the path. We missed it.
Speaker 2: We got to get back on the path. The Bible
Speaker 2: tells us in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. Now.
Speaker 2: One of the things it's very important that you learn
Speaker 2: when you walk with others, is you learn how to
Speaker 2: get along with other people. If you go through life isolated,
Speaker 2: never let anybody get close to you, never cooperate with anybody.
Speaker 2: You don't learn how to cooperate. And that's one of
Speaker 2: the great lessons of life. Have you noticed that when
Speaker 2: you walk with somebody else, everybody walks at a different pace,
Speaker 2: different style. Those of you who've married, have you ever
Speaker 2: tried to walk with your husband or your wife around
Speaker 2: the lake? It's different. It's just different strides, different strokes
Speaker 2: for different folks. And so we have to learn to compromise. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible says this in Genesis two eighteen. Let's read
Speaker 2: it aloud. It is not good for man to be alone.
Speaker 2: You know, that's the first thing God said after he
Speaker 2: created Adam. He looked down in a perfect environment guarden
Speaker 2: of ening goes. It's not good. It's not good for
Speaker 2: man to be alone. God hates loneliness. He hates it.
Speaker 2: God hates loneliness. And so what's his antidote. Well, he
Speaker 2: created two groups, physical family and the spiritual family. The
Speaker 2: physical family is the one you grew up in. The
Speaker 2: spiritual family is the one you have the rest of
Speaker 2: your life. Actually goes on into eternity. The physical family
Speaker 2: eventually moves apart, eventually dies and doesn't go on. But
Speaker 2: the spiritual family, God's Church is going to go on
Speaker 2: forever and ever and ever. And so God says, I
Speaker 2: want you to be connected in my family, the church.
Speaker 2: Notice what his safety net is. And hebrews ten, let
Speaker 2: us not give up the habit of meeting together. Notice
Speaker 2: it's a habit, something you do all the time. I
Speaker 2: give up the habit of meeting together. Instead, let us
Speaker 2: encourage one another. He says. You know you're created for community,
Speaker 2: and I want you to encourage each other by meeting together.
Speaker 2: Now that verse, he's not talking about what we're doing
Speaker 2: right now. This is not a community, folks. This is
Speaker 2: a crowd. It's a quite large crowd, okay, And you
Speaker 2: can't encourage each other here. You know, we can't. You
Speaker 2: can't even get to talk to very many people. There's
Speaker 2: just too many people. This can only be done in
Speaker 2: a small group. You know. Can you be in a
Speaker 2: crowd and be lonely? Sure? This last week I was
Speaker 2: in Manhattan. I had to go buy a coat for
Speaker 2: a TV show I was going to be on, and
Speaker 2: so I walked out by myself. I was in one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand people, but it still felt very lonely because
Speaker 2: I didn't know anybody. So it has nothing to do
Speaker 2: with the size. It's talking about getting together with people
Speaker 2: who encourage you. Would you write this down? Community is
Speaker 2: God's answer to loneliness. Community is God God's answer to loneliness.
Speaker 2: And we all need a place where we can practice love.
Speaker 2: It's what the world needs. We need to learn how
Speaker 2: to love now. The Bible says that I've got to
Speaker 2: have other people in my life. As I'm walking through life,
Speaker 2: I need other people to grow. Would you write that down?
Speaker 2: I can't grow without others. The Bible is very clear
Speaker 2: about this. I cannot grow without other people in my life.
Speaker 2: Why Because life is about relationships, not about achievement. God
Speaker 2: is love and he wants me to learn to love
Speaker 2: him and love others. Those are the two greatest lessons
Speaker 2: in life. Now. The Bible gets very specific about this
Speaker 2: and one Corinthians fourteen. I love this in the message paraphrase,
Speaker 2: it's pretty clear. It says when you gather, when you gather,
Speaker 2: each one of you be prepared with something useful for all.
Speaker 2: Sing a hymn, teach a lesson, tell a story, lead
Speaker 2: a prayer, provide an insight, take your turn, with no
Speaker 2: one person taken over. That way you all learn from
Speaker 2: each other. Question does that sound like something we do
Speaker 2: here on Sunday morning? No? No, I don't stand up
Speaker 2: here and say anybody got a poem? You know what
Speaker 2: happened to you this week? Who has a prayer request?
Speaker 2: Who learned something from God this week? Who needs to
Speaker 2: be prayer? And we're too big to do that. This
Speaker 2: can only happen in a small group. And that's why
Speaker 2: to be a healthy believer, you need large group worship
Speaker 2: and small group fellowship, temple courts and house to house.
Speaker 2: And that's why in our church we ask everybody to
Speaker 2: come on a weekend service and be in a small group.
Speaker 2: If you're only getting half of that and you're only
Speaker 2: getting half of the benefit of this church. You need
Speaker 2: to walk through life in a small group of believers. Now,
Speaker 2: why we'll look at the next verse Phesians four. As
Speaker 2: each part talking about the body of Christ. As each
Speaker 2: part does its work, it helps the other parts grow,
Speaker 2: so his whole body is healthy and growing. And read
Speaker 2: it with me. Full of love. That's what God wants
Speaker 2: in your life, and he wants for all of us.
Speaker 2: He wants us to be healthy and growing and full
Speaker 2: of love. And that's my prayer for you as your pastor.
Speaker 2: I want you to be healthy, and I want you
Speaker 2: to be growing, and I want you to be full
Speaker 2: of love. Now, there's only one way you can do that.
Speaker 2: You got to get with other Christians who can walk
Speaker 2: through life with you. You see, you can't learn community
Speaker 2: without being in a community. Not a crowd, but in
Speaker 2: a community. The Bible says this in fee Peter four nine.
Speaker 2: Open your homes to each other without what complaining? H
Speaker 2: what's your complaint? What's your excuse for not opening up
Speaker 2: your own? Well, my home is dirty, Well clean it up. Okay,
Speaker 2: just clean it up, all rights. That's a real easy thing. Okay, Well,
Speaker 2: my home isn't big enough. Can you put three people
Speaker 2: in it? Then you can have a group. The Bible says,
Speaker 2: where two or more are gathered in my name, I'm
Speaker 2: there in the midst of them. You say, well, you
Speaker 2: know what I don't like my neighbors, Well, don't invite them.
Speaker 2: I'm not telling you to invite people you don't like.
Speaker 2: Invite the people you do like. You don't have to
Speaker 2: invite people. Invite your neighbor friends, invite your coworkers, your family.
Speaker 2: You don't just get some people, he said, Well, nobody
Speaker 2: would really want to come to my house and study this.
Speaker 2: Oh really? Really? You see, everybody has a longing for belonging.
Speaker 2: Everybody deep in the human spirit is a longing for belonging.
Speaker 2: It's why the worst kind of punishment is solitary confinement.
Speaker 2: We're made for relationships. God wired us that way, and
Speaker 2: that's why people will join all kinds of stupid causes
Speaker 2: just because they want to belong. Listen, the people in
Speaker 2: your neighborhood would love to come to your house. Let
Speaker 2: me give you an example of this. Two years ago
Speaker 2: when we did forty Days of Purpose and I on
Speaker 2: the day we started, like today, I handed out a
Speaker 2: little card, a little invitation card, And I said, you
Speaker 2: know what, I want you to give this card to
Speaker 2: somebody that you know who doesn't go to church anywhere
Speaker 2: or doesn't have any knowledge of the love of God,
Speaker 2: and you invite them to your small group. And in
Speaker 2: one week you did this. In one week, we went
Speaker 2: from eight thousand people in small groups to twenty four
Speaker 2: thousand in small groups. Don't tell listen, your neighbors are
Speaker 2: more willing to come than you're willing to invite them.
Speaker 2: They are. So that's the first reason we need a group.
Speaker 2: We need each other because we need people to walk
Speaker 2: with us. Number two, I also need others to work
Speaker 2: with me. I need people to work with me. Did
Speaker 2: you know that the Bible says God puts you on
Speaker 2: earth to do a certain work that only you can do.
Speaker 2: Ephesians two ten says this God made us to do
Speaker 2: good works, which He planned in advance for us to
Speaker 2: live our lives doing. Before you were even born, God
Speaker 2: decided the talents he was going to give you, the
Speaker 2: natural abilities, he was going to give you the background.
Speaker 2: He even chose where you would be born, who your
Speaker 2: parents would be when you would be born, and all
Speaker 2: of this because He has a purpose for your life.
Speaker 2: And part of that purpose is he has some work
Speaker 2: for you to do. Now, anytime you use your talents
Speaker 2: or your abilities to help somebody else, there's a word
Speaker 2: for that. It's called ministry or service. And all of
Speaker 2: us are ministers, not pastors. Ministers. What that means is
Speaker 2: when you use your gifts and what God wired you
Speaker 2: to be to help others, you're doing what God brought
Speaker 2: you to do. He says, these are your good works. Now,
Speaker 2: remember we've talked about this many times that life on
Speaker 2: earth is practice for eternity. You get one hundred years
Speaker 2: at the most on earth, you get trillions of years
Speaker 2: in heaven, and in heaven you're gonna do four things.
Speaker 2: And one of the things you're gonna do in heaven
Speaker 2: is you're gonna serve God. And so what God wants
Speaker 2: you to do while you're here on earth, spend some
Speaker 2: of that time practicing, practicing serving, And so he says,
Speaker 2: I want you to learn to serve. I want you
Speaker 2: to do these good works, but I don't want you
Speaker 2: to do them by yourself. You see, in heaven, when
Speaker 2: you get there, everybody's going to work. But we'll all
Speaker 2: each just have a little peace so you'll never get tired.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna be overworked or overloaded in heaven because
Speaker 2: God will give you just a little peace to do.
Speaker 2: But everybody will do their part and it'll all get done.
Speaker 2: What happens here on earth, though, is you're worn out,
Speaker 2: You're exhausted, you're burnout. Some of you came to church exhausted.
Speaker 2: Why because you're trying to do it all and you're
Speaker 2: trying to do it all by yourself.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. If you've missed any
Speaker 1: part of this message, or if you'd like to find
Speaker 1: out more about Pastor Rick Warren and this ministry, just
Speaker 1: visit Pastorick dot com where you can listen online anytime.
Speaker 1: That's Pastor Rick with two rs inthemiddle dot com, and
Speaker 1: be sure to sign up for ricks free daily email devotional.
Speaker 1: While you're there. Rick will be back to close out
Speaker 1: our time today. But first, what does it take to
Speaker 1: become more loving, live, more peacefully, develop patients have self control?
Speaker 1: In his book God's Power to Change Your Life, Rick
Speaker 1: lays the groundwork for personal transformation, then offers biblical insights
Speaker 1: and simple steps for ten areas of growth that you
Speaker 1: can take from where you are to where you want
Speaker 1: to be. Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.
Speaker 2: You know, I've been a pastor for over three decades,
Speaker 2: and I've been teaching the Word of God for over
Speaker 2: four decades. And in all of that time, the number
Speaker 2: one question I've been asked by people is this, how
Speaker 2: can I change? Or why can't I change? I've talked
Speaker 2: to literally thousands and thousands of people who want to
Speaker 2: change but are just stuck and they can't figure out
Speaker 2: how to get unstuck. You know, the truth is you
Speaker 2: can't change on your own because will power alone isn't
Speaker 2: enough to make permanent changes. Sure, you can force yourself
Speaker 2: to change for a month or two months, but pretty
Speaker 2: soon you're going to go back to your old ways.
Speaker 2: Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is not enough.
Speaker 2: Talking yourself into a change by positive thinking is not enough.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, true transformational change only comes through the
Speaker 2: power of God inside you. So let me ask your
Speaker 2: personal question, how do you want to be different at
Speaker 2: the end of this year? What changes would you like
Speaker 2: to make in your life? What goals would you like
Speaker 2: to see accomplished in your life. Well, it isn't going
Speaker 2: to happen on your own. You're going to need God's
Speaker 2: power and I want you to understand how to plug
Speaker 2: in to God's power. That's why this month I'm sending
Speaker 2: out God's Power to Change Your Life, a book that
Speaker 2: I've written. When you give a financial gift to support
Speaker 2: Daily Hope broadcast and ministries, you know Daily Hope is
Speaker 2: one hundred percent supported by listeners. We have no other
Speaker 2: outside source of income. It's supported by your gifts. And
Speaker 2: when you give to support this ministry this month, I
Speaker 2: want to give back to you this book, God's Power
Speaker 2: to Change Your Life.
Speaker 1: This book connects you with the power to actually make
Speaker 1: the changes you long to make. And as you apply
Speaker 1: the truth of God's word, by the power of His Spirit,
Speaker 1: your life will change. You'll move out of your run
Speaker 1: and get on track with God's wonderful purposes for your life.
Speaker 1: And today, when you give a gift to Daily Hope
Speaker 1: to help take the Hope of Jesus to people everywhere,
Speaker 1: We'll send you Pastor Rick's book called God's Power to
Speaker 1: Change Your Life to say thanks. Just go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com right now to get your copy or You
Speaker 1: can call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four
Speaker 1: that's Pastorick dot com or eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four and be sure to let us know
Speaker 1: which station you heard us on. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: your support. Be sure to join us again next time
Speaker 1: as we look into God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Daily Hope Ministries and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support