Speaker 1: Today on Daily Hope with Pastor Rick Warren, we continue
Speaker 1: in our riveting journey through the series The Invisible War.
Speaker 1: In it will explore the unseen world of good and
Speaker 1: evil and see how it impacts our day to day existence.
Speaker 1: Join us for eye opening biblical insights into the spiritual
Speaker 1: dimensions that influence our lives in ways we never imagined.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part
Speaker 1: of a message called being faithful in a faithless world.
Speaker 2: Anybody be generous when you got a surplus. I can
Speaker 2: be generous with my time when I got a lot
Speaker 2: extra time. I can be generous with my money when
Speaker 2: I got a lot extra money. I can be generous
Speaker 2: when with my energy, when I got extra energy to spend.
Speaker 2: I can be generous with help when I've got a
Speaker 2: lot of extra help to give that when I don't
Speaker 2: have enough for me, I don't have enough time for me,
Speaker 2: I don't have enough energy for me, I don't have
Speaker 2: enough money for me, I don't have enough talent for me,
Speaker 2: and I give it a way to help others. God
Speaker 2: goes This is a test and I'm watching you to
Speaker 2: see if you are faithful it will you be faithful
Speaker 2: and will you trust me?
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: A great example of this in the Bible is the
Speaker 2: story of the Church in Macedonia. Macedonia was an area
Speaker 2: of Greece. Alexander the Great he was from Macedonia. His
Speaker 2: father was Philip of Macedonia. Now there's a church in
Speaker 2: this place called Macedonia in Greece, and there's another church
Speaker 2: in Greece called the Corinthians.
Speaker 3: Corinth is a city in Greece.
Speaker 2: And Paul writes a letter to the church at Corinth
Speaker 2: and he's bragging on the church at Macedonia for them
Speaker 2: being generous in the middle of their shortages.
Speaker 3: Here's what he says.
Speaker 2: Look up here on the screen, he says, those people
Speaker 2: over there in Macedonia, they're going through this enormous recession.
Speaker 2: He goes, they have been going through severe trouble. They've
Speaker 2: been going through very hard times, and out of their
Speaker 2: extreme poverty, these people are flat broke has flowed extreme
Speaker 2: generosity and overwhelming joy.
Speaker 3: What's you talking about, he said, Those.
Speaker 2: People over there, they are hurting like crazy, but they
Speaker 2: gave a huge offering to help the church down in
Speaker 2: Jerusalem that's starving right now. He goes, out of their
Speaker 2: poverty came generosity. He said, God's watching that they are
Speaker 2: being faithful.
Speaker 3: They are being faithful.
Speaker 2: Did you know that the number one test, the acid
Speaker 2: test of your faith in your life, is.
Speaker 3: Your finances, not anything else. But it's your finances.
Speaker 2: Why Because we spend most of our time thinking, making, worrying, investing,
Speaker 2: saving money.
Speaker 3: It's the acid test.
Speaker 2: Of how much do I trust God my finances? In fact,
Speaker 2: Jesus said it like this. I tell you use worldly wealth,
Speaker 2: your worldly resources.
Speaker 3: That's your time, your money, your energy, everything. Use your worldly.
Speaker 2: Resources to benefit others and to make friends for eternity,
Speaker 2: in other words, to help get people into heaven, finance missions.
Speaker 2: In this way, your generosity stores up a reward for
Speaker 2: you in heaven, he said. When you help other people
Speaker 2: with whatever you've got, you're storing up a reward for
Speaker 2: you in heaven. But if you are unfaithful, there's that word.
Speaker 2: If you're unfaithful with your worldly wealth, you just spend
Speaker 2: it all on yourself. Who will trust you with the
Speaker 2: true riches of heaven. You cannot serve both God and money.
Speaker 2: Did you know that God says, I use money to
Speaker 2: test how much I'm going to be able to trust
Speaker 2: you in heaven. He said, If I can't trust you
Speaker 2: with material world wealth in this world, I'm not going
Speaker 2: to trust you with the true riches of heaven in eternity.
Speaker 3: This is a test. Money management is not just.
Speaker 2: A good idea staying out of debt, investing wisely, giving liberally,
Speaker 2: sharing generously. That's not just a good idea. It is
Speaker 2: a spiritual test. And God says, if you're not faithful
Speaker 2: in how you handle your finances on earth, I'm not
Speaker 2: going to trust you with true spiritual blessing in heaven.
Speaker 3: It's a test. It's a test.
Speaker 2: Now, friends, as your pastor who loves you, I told
Speaker 2: you I'm praying for your blessing, and I pray for
Speaker 2: your financial blessing.
Speaker 3: I do it all the time.
Speaker 2: I want you to succeed financially, not so you can
Speaker 2: be some fat cat and just spend it all on yourself,
Speaker 2: but so that you can use it wisely and then
Speaker 2: be rewarded in heaven.
Speaker 3: That's what I want God to do.
Speaker 2: I want you to get those rewards in heaven, and
Speaker 2: I pray for you to be financially successful, so not
Speaker 2: so you can go spend it on a bunch of luxuries,
Speaker 2: but so that you can use it to help other
Speaker 2: people and then get rewards in heaven. So you need
Speaker 2: to know I'm praying for your success. But let me
Speaker 2: give you five principles right now. I want you to
Speaker 2: write these down to make it through tough times. These
Speaker 2: are five principles that if you will do these things,
Speaker 2: God will bless you.
Speaker 3: In your life in these areas. Okay. Number one.
Speaker 2: First principle in a recession, God gives to generous people.
Speaker 2: God gives to generous people. This is a principle in
Speaker 2: the Bible. God says, the more generous you are, the
Speaker 2: more generous I'm going to be with you. If you're
Speaker 2: generous with your time, I'm going to give you more time.
Speaker 2: If you're generous with your energy, I'm going to give
Speaker 2: you more energy. If you're generous with your talent, I'm
Speaker 2: going to give you more talent. God says, why does
Speaker 2: God want me to be generous? Obviously he doesn't need it.
Speaker 2: He wants me to be like him. Everything I have
Speaker 2: in my life, everything you have in your life, is
Speaker 2: because of the generosity of God. Your heart is beating
Speaker 2: because of the generosity of God. The blood in your
Speaker 2: veins and the air you breathe is all there because
Speaker 2: of the generosity of God. God so loved that he gave.
Speaker 2: And God wants us to grow up and be like him,
Speaker 2: like father, like son, like father, like daughter. God wants
Speaker 2: me to learn to be generous, and so he rewards it.
Speaker 2: And there's a principle throughout the Bible where God says,
Speaker 2: the more generous you are, the more generous I will.
Speaker 3: Be with you.
Speaker 2: You cannot outgive God. I have played this game for
Speaker 2: many years. Most of you know my story. He and
Speaker 2: I started tithing when we were married thirty six years ago,
Speaker 2: and each year raised our tithe from ten percent at
Speaker 2: least one percent a year to eleven percent, to twelve
Speaker 2: percent to thirteen fifteen. Sometimes on big years i'd get
Speaker 2: a raise. I'd raise it three or four percent. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it was really tight, we were barely making ends meet.
Speaker 2: We'd raised it just quarter percent. Why we didn't tell
Speaker 2: We weren't trying to show off. I didn't tell anybody
Speaker 2: about this for thirty years. But I wanted my heart
Speaker 2: to grow bigger, and every year I wanted to be
Speaker 2: more like Jesus. So I was trying to learn generous.
Speaker 2: Most of you know that today CA and I give
Speaker 2: away ninety one percent of our income and live on
Speaker 2: nine percent. Most of you know I don't take a
Speaker 2: salary from this church. I've served this church free for
Speaker 2: thirty one years, and it's been fun learning to give
Speaker 2: it away. And I've played this game where God says, rick,
Speaker 2: you give to me, and I'll give.
Speaker 3: To you and we'll see who wins.
Speaker 2: And I have lost that game for thirty six years. People, Obviously,
Speaker 2: why do you think God shows you to write the
Speaker 2: best selling book in history.
Speaker 3: I'll tell you why. God knew what I'd do with
Speaker 3: the money.
Speaker 2: He knew that I wouldn't spend it on myself, that
Speaker 2: I would use it for good.
Speaker 3: And for God.
Speaker 2: I mean, when I wrote that book, if I had
Speaker 2: wanted to, I could have gone and bought a dozen Bentleys.
Speaker 2: I could have gone out and bought an island and
Speaker 2: retired and had people serve me little glasses of iced
Speaker 2: tea with umbrellas in them.
Speaker 3: But it's not about you now.
Speaker 2: God gives to generous people, and the more I give,
Speaker 2: the more God blesses me.
Speaker 3: Number two, this is a real important one.
Speaker 2: Obeying God's vision will bring God's provision obeying God's vision
Speaker 2: will bring God's provision. In other words, if you do
Speaker 2: what God tells you to do, and you don't have
Speaker 2: the money, you don't have the energy, you don't have
Speaker 2: the people, you don't have it, God will bring.
Speaker 3: It along the resources you need at the right time.
Speaker 2: Because what He calls you to do, he's going to
Speaker 2: fulfill what he's given you the vision for.
Speaker 3: He will give you the provision for. He'll give you
Speaker 3: the provision for.
Speaker 2: And so what you need to do is you step
Speaker 2: out in faith to do what you know God's called
Speaker 2: you to do.
Speaker 3: This is a real important one.
Speaker 2: When I do all God tells me to do, he
Speaker 2: does what I can't do. When I do all God
Speaker 2: tells me to do, he does what I can't do.
Speaker 3: Now, this story of the Feeding of.
Speaker 2: The five thousand in the Bible is a perfect example
Speaker 2: of this. Do you remember this story, the miracle of
Speaker 2: Jesus feeding five thousand people. They're all out in the desert.
Speaker 2: Jesus been teaching all day. It's the end of the
Speaker 2: day and everybody's hungry. There's no McDonald's anywhere, So the
Speaker 2: disciples come to Jesus says.
Speaker 3: Send them all away. Lord so then go home and eat.
Speaker 2: Jesus looks at the disciples and he says, you feed him. Now,
Speaker 2: that was impossible. Here God often asks you to do
Speaker 2: the impossible, to stretch your faith. He looks and says,
Speaker 2: you feed him. He said, Lord, we can't. We don't
Speaker 2: have any money, we don't have any food. There's no
Speaker 2: place to buy food.
Speaker 3: We can't. Jesus said, you feed him.
Speaker 2: So that he says, anybody got a lunch? And out
Speaker 2: of that entire five thousand people, one little kid has
Speaker 2: little sack lunch. And in that little sack lunch are
Speaker 2: five little tiny rolls of bread and two little fish
Speaker 2: like sardines. And the little kid takes his measly little
Speaker 2: lunch and he gives it to Jesus.
Speaker 3: He gives Jesus everything he's got.
Speaker 2: It's not much, but he gives to him. Jesus takes it,
Speaker 2: he breaks it, he blesses it, and he multiplies it,
Speaker 2: and he feeds five thousand people with it. And then
Speaker 2: at the end of their all feeling, they gather twelve
Speaker 2: baskets of leftover.
Speaker 3: There was so much leftover. What's the principle there?
Speaker 2: When I give what little I've got, God multiplies it
Speaker 2: and he makes up for it. Fourth principle very important.
Speaker 2: When I have a need, I sow a seed. When
Speaker 2: I have a need, I sew a seed. Now here's
Speaker 2: the point. Whatever you need more of give it away.
Speaker 2: If you need more energy, give energy to helping other
Speaker 2: people and God will give you more energy. If you
Speaker 2: need more time, give some of your time away unselfishly
Speaker 2: and God will give you more time. If you need
Speaker 2: more intelligence, you give whatever you got away to help others.
Speaker 2: If you need more money, whatever you need, you sow
Speaker 2: a seed. Can you imagine a farmer going, well, it's recession.
Speaker 2: I think I'll just keep all the seed in the barn. No,
Speaker 2: you got a planet in order to profit from it. Now,
Speaker 2: whatever you need in your life, you sow that as
Speaker 2: a seed, and it will be responsible to come back
Speaker 2: to you. Here's the fifth principle, very important. There's always
Speaker 2: a delay between sowing and reaping. There is always a
Speaker 2: delay between sowing and reaping. In other words, if I
Speaker 2: go out and I plant a kernel of corn in
Speaker 2: the ground tomorrow, I'm not going to see a full
Speaker 2: grown stock of corn with twenty years on it.
Speaker 3: It ain't going to happen.
Speaker 2: There is a season between planting and harvesting, Between the
Speaker 2: seed and the fruit, there is always a time delay.
Speaker 2: And what's going on in the time delay. This is
Speaker 2: a test. It's a test of your faith. There's two
Speaker 2: other ways that God tests your faithfulness.
Speaker 3: And see when you.
Speaker 2: Pass these tests, he pours out blessing on your life.
Speaker 3: Here they are a number five.
Speaker 2: Faithful people bring friends to Jesus. God is watching you
Speaker 2: and faithful people. Faithful people share their faith. Faithful people
Speaker 2: share their faith. Faithful people bring others into the faith.
Speaker 2: If I don't share my faith, I am being unfaithful.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: A good example of this is these four guys in
Speaker 2: the Bible had a friend who was paralyzed, and they
Speaker 2: had the faith to think, you know, if we could
Speaker 2: just get our friend to Jesus, Jesus would heal the
Speaker 2: guy and then our friend would be well. And they
Speaker 2: had faith that if they could get their friend to Jesus,
Speaker 2: he'd be healed. The story is told here in They're
Speaker 2: on your Outline. In Matthew chapter nine, it says some
Speaker 2: men brought to Jesus a paralytic, a paralyzed man, a
Speaker 2: paralyzed friend lying on a mat. He couldn't even get
Speaker 2: to Jesus. He was paralyzed. When Jesus saw their faith
Speaker 2: circle the phrase their faith. When Jesus saw their faith,
Speaker 2: he said to the paralyzed man, take heart, son, your
Speaker 2: sins are forgiven. I didn't print the rest verse. Rest
Speaker 2: verse says, and they said, take up your mat and
Speaker 2: go home. And the guy was instantly healed. Now Jesus
Speaker 2: heals the guy. Now, according to that verse, did Jesus
Speaker 2: heal the guy because of the sick man's faith or
Speaker 2: because of the friend's faith?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the friends, It says, when Jesus saw their faith,
Speaker 2: you guys had enough faith that if you could get
Speaker 2: your paralyzed man to me, I'd save him on the
Speaker 2: basis of their faith.
Speaker 3: Not the guy who was sick, but their faith.
Speaker 2: He healed the man. Now, listen very closely. You have
Speaker 2: friends that are paralyzed and can't get to Jesus. You
Speaker 2: have friends who are paralyzed by guilt and they can't
Speaker 2: get to Jesus. They're paralyzed by doubt and they can't
Speaker 2: get to Jesus. They're paralyzed by fear, they're paralyzed by worry,
Speaker 2: they're paralyzed by insecurity.
Speaker 3: And they can't get to Jesus.
Speaker 2: And the only way they're going to get to Jesus
Speaker 2: is you're going to have to bring them. And if
Speaker 2: you have enough faith to bring them to Jesus, they
Speaker 2: will get saved. But they're not going to get saved.
Speaker 2: They're not going to be healed. Their life is going
Speaker 2: to be turned around until you have enough faith to
Speaker 2: bring them to Jesus. Now, when God looks out and
Speaker 2: he sees people bringing people to him, he not only
Speaker 2: heals those people, he blesses the person who brought them.
Speaker 2: If you want the blessing of God on your business,
Speaker 2: if you want the blessing of God on your family,
Speaker 2: if you want the blessing of God on your life,
Speaker 2: just start bringing friends to Jesus. And if you bring
Speaker 2: your friends to Jesus, God says, that's the kind of
Speaker 2: person I'm looking for. They are are faithful, and God
Speaker 2: blesses faithfulness. You want God's blessing on any air of
Speaker 2: your life, just start bringing your friends to Jesus, and
Speaker 2: you watch what happens. God will do things in your life,
Speaker 2: your finances, your health, your business. You could not imagine
Speaker 2: faithful people bring friends to Jesus, which is why we
Speaker 2: don't ever stop reaching out. One last principle, number five
Speaker 2: R six. Faithful people build the faith of others. Faithful
Speaker 2: people build the faith of others, and when God sees
Speaker 2: your faithfulness, he blesses you. Now, building the faith of
Speaker 2: others is called mentoring or discipling. It's simply encouraging somebody
Speaker 2: in the faith who's younger in the faith than you.
Speaker 2: Everybody in life needs a Pall, and everybody needs a Timothy.
Speaker 3: What's a Pall.
Speaker 2: That's somebody who's older than you who can kind of
Speaker 2: encourage you and encourage you and be a coach to
Speaker 2: you spiritually and just be there to pray for you.
Speaker 2: Everybody needs Paul, and everybody needs a Timothy. That's somebody
Speaker 2: who's not been a Christian as long as you, maybe
Speaker 2: you've only been a Christian one week longer. But they
Speaker 2: can be your Timothy. And you need to be mentoring
Speaker 2: somebody younger than you. Now, you don't need to be
Speaker 2: one hundred steps ahead of that person because they can't
Speaker 2: see you. You only need to be one step ahead.
Speaker 2: And if you start helping other people in their faith,
Speaker 2: you're going to find God blessing your socks off. Faithful
Speaker 2: people build the faith of others. God has called every
Speaker 2: Christian to do this. Notice this verse second Timothy, Chapter two,
Speaker 2: Verse two. The things Paul is talking to Timothy, Paul says,
Speaker 2: the thing you've learned, things you've learned from me, Timothy,
Speaker 2: in the presence of many witnesses, you are to entrust
Speaker 2: to other faithful people. There's that word faithful, who will
Speaker 2: also be qualified to pass it.
Speaker 3: On to others.
Speaker 2: Now, notice in that verse there are four generations. Paul says,
Speaker 2: I helped build up your faith. Now you're to find
Speaker 2: somebody who's faithful and help build up their faith, who
Speaker 2: they will turn around and build up the faith of others.
Speaker 2: Four generations in one verse, four generations. This is called mentoring,
Speaker 2: it's called discipling.
Speaker 3: Don't you wish.
Speaker 2: When you were in your twenties and you're a young guy,
Speaker 2: if you had had an older guy who was a
Speaker 2: Christian who said, you know what, I don't know a
Speaker 2: whole lot, but let's just get together for coffee once
Speaker 2: a month and we'll just talk and I'll pray for you,
Speaker 2: and you need some help in your business.
Speaker 3: I don't know a whole lot. But I can tell
Speaker 3: you what. I know you need some help in your family,
Speaker 3: your marriage.
Speaker 2: I can tell you what not to do. I can
Speaker 2: tell you what not to do. That's mentoring. See, it's
Speaker 2: wise to learn from experience. It's wise to learn from
Speaker 2: experiences mistakes of others. I don't have time to learn
Speaker 2: it all my life. And let's say, if you're a
Speaker 2: young woman, wouldn't you like to have an older woman,
Speaker 2: a godly woman, who takes you under your her wing
Speaker 2: and says, look, I know you got problems with your kids,
Speaker 2: problems with your husband, or problems with your career, or
Speaker 2: problems with this going to school. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: I'll just be there to hang on with you. I'll
Speaker 2: be there to pray with I don't know a whole lot,
Speaker 2: but I'll just be.
Speaker 3: There for you. Wouldn't you have wanted that as a
Speaker 3: young Christian? Of course you would have. Of course you
Speaker 3: would have.
Speaker 2: I have had six mentors in my life. One of
Speaker 2: them died this week. His name was John Stott. He
Speaker 2: was ninety years old. He lived in England. He wrote
Speaker 2: over fifty books. He was one, in my opinion, of
Speaker 2: the four greatest Christians of the twentieth century. To me,
Speaker 2: the four greatest Christians of the twentieth century were Billy Graham, Pope,
Speaker 2: John Paul, the Second Mother, Teresa, and.
Speaker 3: John Stott.
Speaker 2: John Stott was a mentor to me, and in my
Speaker 2: life I've had six different mentors who encouraged me. Now,
Speaker 2: he didn't sit down and teach me lessons. I just
Speaker 2: call him up and talk. And I just knew that
Speaker 2: there was somebody who was a little further down the
Speaker 2: road than I was who cared about me. Now, I
Speaker 2: know what somebody's saying, Rick, you don't know the mess
Speaker 2: I've made of my life. You don't know all the
Speaker 2: problems I've done. You don't have to be perfect to
Speaker 2: be a mentor. If you did, there would be no mentors.
Speaker 2: There are no perfect mentor. Everybody's flawed. It's interesting to
Speaker 2: me that when God chose the leader of the church,
Speaker 2: the person he chose out of all his twelve disciples
Speaker 2: was the biggest failure. He chose Peter, the guy who
Speaker 2: denied Jesus three times, is the guy Jesus chose to
Speaker 2: be the leader of the first Church and preach on
Speaker 2: the day of Pentecost, and three thousand people were saved.
Speaker 2: God loves to use losers. He doesn't use the perfect winners.
Speaker 2: He loves to use losers. And he chose the biggest
Speaker 2: leader loser, to be the leader who can better understand
Speaker 2: somebody going through a bankruptcy than somebody's been through bankruptcy,
Speaker 2: somebody who's had problems with their kids, then somebody who's
Speaker 2: had problems with their kids. Somebody's gone through cancer, then
Speaker 2: somebody who's going through cancer, somebody who went through cancer,
Speaker 2: somebody who struggled with drugs, and somebody who struggled with drugs.
Speaker 3: Don't waste your hurts.
Speaker 2: Use them to help the next generation. God will use it.
Speaker 2: Here's what Jesus said to Peter Luke twenty two. This
Speaker 2: is before Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus knew he
Speaker 2: was going to do it, and he said this, Peter,
Speaker 2: Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I've
Speaker 2: prayed for you that your faith will not completely fail.
Speaker 2: He said, Peter, I already know you're going to fail,
Speaker 2: but I've already prayed for you, and I know you're
Speaker 2: going to come out of it. So after you've repented
Speaker 2: and come back to me, after you've blown it, and
Speaker 2: you've come back to me.
Speaker 3: Strengthen and build up the faith of your brothers. Another
Speaker 3: hey saying be a mentor.
Speaker 2: What I want you'll be able to do this fall
Speaker 2: is you to take your biggest problems and failures and
Speaker 2: save somebody else from making the same mistake. And you'll
Speaker 2: be able to say, like job, look up here on
Speaker 2: the screen. This is what a mentor does. You'll sing
Speaker 2: God's praises to everyone you meet testifying. Here's what you'll say.
Speaker 2: I messed up my life. I messed up my life
Speaker 2: and let me tell you, it wasn't worth it. But
Speaker 2: God stepped in and saved me and I'm alive again.
Speaker 2: That's called mentoring. I messed up my life. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you it wasn't worth it. But God stepped in
Speaker 2: and saved me. And he'll help you too. So hang
Speaker 2: in there. God is going to use you as a mentor.
Speaker 2: That's power.
Speaker 3: Heads.
Speaker 2: I want you to follow me in this prayer after
Speaker 2: I pray for you Lord. I know, Father, you're looking
Speaker 2: for faithful people to use. You're looking for faithful people
Speaker 2: to bless. I know that people of real faith are
Speaker 2: hard to find, and yet you have said Faithfulness is
Speaker 2: the key to blessing. It is the key to victory,
Speaker 2: and that a faithful man, a faithful woman.
Speaker 3: Will be richly blessed.
Speaker 2: I want these people in our family to be richly blessed.
Speaker 3: So help us to respond to the sixth test of
Speaker 3: faith with the way that we ought to respond.
Speaker 2: Now you pray in your in your heart, in your mind,
Speaker 2: say this, Dear God, Please use the little things in
Speaker 2: my life to grow my integrity, the stuff that nobody sees.
Speaker 2: Help me to be faith that which isn't my own,
Speaker 2: so that you can give me my own. And God,
Speaker 2: use my talents to grow my unselfishness. Help me to
Speaker 2: realize that my giftedness, my abilities were not made for
Speaker 2: my benefit, but to make the world a better place
Speaker 2: and to help others. Lord, the tough times I'm going through,
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you to use them to grow
Speaker 2: my persistence.
Speaker 3: Help me to not give up, help me to keep.
Speaker 2: On keeping on, Help me to lot look at the problem,
Speaker 2: but the reward in Heaven for growing in character. And
Speaker 2: you know, Lord, the stuff that I lack, that I've
Speaker 2: got a shortage.
Speaker 3: On in my life.
Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you to help me to grow
Speaker 2: in generosity through the shortages of my life. To be
Speaker 2: generous when I can't afford it, with my time, with
Speaker 2: my pray. Help me to be generous in affirming others.
Speaker 2: To be generous with my money. Help me to be
Speaker 2: generous with my love. Help me to be generous not
Speaker 2: with criticism, but with praise. I want to learn to
Speaker 2: be generous in every area. I want to obey your
Speaker 2: vision and expect your provision. I want to do what
Speaker 2: you tell me to do and then watch you make
Speaker 2: up the difference. I want to be generous so that
Speaker 2: you can be generous to me, so I can be more.
Speaker 3: Generous where I have a need.
Speaker 2: Help me plant a seed, and when there's a delay
Speaker 2: between the seed and the harvest, help me to realize
Speaker 2: you are still.
Speaker 3: You're still testing my faith. Lord.
Speaker 2: I want your blessing on my family, on my business,
Speaker 2: on my life. Help me to faithfully bring other friends
Speaker 2: to the faith. To bring my friends to Jesus who
Speaker 2: are paralyzed and don't have enough faith on their own
Speaker 2: to come to you and help me to build the
Speaker 2: faith of others. It scares me to death, but I'm
Speaker 2: willing to be a mentor. I ask you to help
Speaker 2: me be a faithful person, so that you can bless
Speaker 2: me in your name. If you've never invited Jesus Christ
Speaker 2: in your life, say Jesus Christ, come into my life
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 3: I want to put my faith in you. Amen.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 2: today's broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer
Speaker 2: for the very first time, or you just recommitted your
Speaker 2: life to Jesus again today, would you let me know
Speaker 2: about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment. So
Speaker 2: write me Rick at Pastorrick dot com and say, Rick,
Speaker 2: I prayed that prayer of commitment. I gave my life
Speaker 2: to Christ. And I'll send you some material that will
Speaker 2: help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also
Speaker 2: pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy
Speaker 1: you've chosen to study along with us today. Why is
Speaker 1: everything in life so hard? Why does the right thing
Speaker 1: often feel like a battle. It's because every day there's
Speaker 1: a spiritual war raging all around you. Here's Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: to tell you more. You know, we all face temptations
Speaker 1: every day. It's a spiritual battle that takes place inside us,
Speaker 1: and it makes us vulnerable, particularly if we don't know
Speaker 1: how to fight it. To overcome temptation is absolutely essential
Speaker 1: that you know the tactics that Satan uses to trip
Speaker 1: us up.
Speaker 2: And it's vital to learn the biblical defenses that God
Speaker 2: gives us. He has told us in his Word how
Speaker 2: to handle and how to manage the attacks of Satan.
Speaker 2: In order to help you learn how to respond to
Speaker 2: the predictable patterns that Satan uses to tempt you, I've
Speaker 2: created a study kit called The Invisible War, Winning the
Speaker 2: Battle of Temptation. This kit, The Invisible War Winning the
Speaker 2: Battle of Temptation, includes a DVD with seven different sessions
Speaker 2: and a simple booklet that will help you learn how
Speaker 2: to overcome and defeat temptation in your life. You really
Speaker 2: need this. In the series, I will teach you the
Speaker 2: three kinds of temptation, God's antidote to temptation, and even
Speaker 2: how to avoid temptation in the first place. It is
Speaker 2: a steady guide that you can use by yourself, but
Speaker 2: you'll actually get more out of it if you'll gather
Speaker 2: a small group of friends together and study it together
Speaker 2: as a small group. Now I want to send you
Speaker 2: the Invisible War winning the Battle for temptations toifit as
Speaker 2: my gift to say thanks for your support of Daily
Speaker 2: Hope with your financial gift. You know we can't do
Speaker 2: this without you, and your generosity helps us take the
Speaker 2: Hope of Christ into places all around the world, and
Speaker 2: now to places that have no Bible, no believer, and
Speaker 2: no body of Christ.
Speaker 1: Go to Pastorick dot com right now to get your copy.
Speaker 1: That's pastorick dot com. Or you can just text the
Speaker 1: word hope to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Speaker 1: That's the word hope to eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four. Today is the last day to get
Speaker 1: this great resource, so don't wait. Be sure to join
Speaker 1: us next time as we look into God's Word for
Speaker 1: our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope and your generous financial support.