Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: the Bible Teaching Ministry of Rick Warren, and today we're
Speaker 1: continuing our series called the Habits of Happiness. In this series,
Speaker 1: Rick dives into the Book of Philippians and helps you
Speaker 1: discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. All right,
Speaker 1: we're ready to get into today's message. Here is the
Speaker 1: final part of five daily habits for happiness.
Speaker 2: So the second habit is I remember what matters most.
Speaker 2: Tom's going to come and talk about the third habit
Speaker 2: for happiness.
Speaker 3: The third habit is get to know Jesus better. Get
Speaker 3: to know Jesus better. You should start every morning when
Speaker 3: you wake up saying, Lord, if I don't get anything
Speaker 3: else today, anything else done, I want to get to
Speaker 3: know you a little bit better. I want to love
Speaker 3: you a little bit more. Listen, you were made. I
Speaker 3: was made to live in relationship with God. And if
Speaker 3: I think I can be joy without getting to know
Speaker 3: Him better the thing I was made for, I'm just
Speaker 3: fooling myself. A lot of you, you've had a taste
Speaker 3: of joy here or there, and you're just reaching for
Speaker 3: it all the time. Where is the joy found in
Speaker 3: our lives. It's found in the number one thing we
Speaker 3: were created for, getting to know.
Speaker 4: God a little bit better. Paul discovered that.
Speaker 3: He says in Philippians three ten, I want to know
Speaker 3: Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
Speaker 3: of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death,
Speaker 3: so that somehow I might be raised to life. So
Speaker 3: it's this thing of knowing Christ. And you've got to
Speaker 3: understand the difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone.
Speaker 3: He says, I want to know Christ knowing about someone.
Speaker 3: I know about Justin Bieber, I know about Kim Kardashian,
Speaker 3: I know about those people, but I don't know those people.
Speaker 3: I know my wife, I know my kids because I've
Speaker 3: spent time with them. I have a relationship with him.
Speaker 3: Paul says, I know Christ because I've spent time with him.
Speaker 2: I have this.
Speaker 4: Relationship with him. I love this.
Speaker 3: In the amplified version, it says there, for my determined
Speaker 3: purpose is that I may know Christ, that I may
Speaker 3: progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving
Speaker 3: and recognizing and understanding him more.
Speaker 4: Strongly and more clearly.
Speaker 3: That phrase determined purpose the truth of the matter is
Speaker 3: you don't get to know Christ by accident. You don't
Speaker 3: just wake up one morning and just sort of accidentally
Speaker 3: fall into knowing Jesus Christ better. It's a determined purpose.
Speaker 3: It's something you have to do something about. You have
Speaker 3: to invest your time in it. Your money is not
Speaker 3: going to grow just sitting there. You have to invest
Speaker 3: it somewhere in order for it to grow. We all
Speaker 3: know that. Well, your relationship with God's not going to
Speaker 3: grow unless you, like any other relationship, invest time in
Speaker 3: that relationship. If you meet someone who has a strong
Speaker 3: relationship with God's strong relationship with Jesus, I will guarantee
Speaker 3: you they have spent a lot of time investing in
Speaker 3: talking to him and letting him talk to them. You
Speaker 3: don't grow a relationship without investing time in a relationship.
Speaker 4: This is a little marriage.
Speaker 3: Advice too, but it's also true in everything that we do.
Speaker 3: It's purposeful, it's progressive.
Speaker 4: And what's the trap.
Speaker 3: Well, we're talking about spending time with someone, so the
Speaker 3: trap is an obvious trap. The trap with this one
Speaker 3: is the trap with all of our relationships, all of
Speaker 3: our time that needs to be spent. It is busyness.
Speaker 3: We just get too busy. We get too busy, and
Speaker 3: busyness destroys relationships. It destroys relationships with your husband, your wife,
Speaker 3: with your kids, It destroys your relationship with God. You
Speaker 3: don't spend time with him. To get to know Jesus,
Speaker 3: you got to make time and spend time with him.
Speaker 3: But let me tell you, it doesn't take a lot
Speaker 3: of time. If you'll just set aside ten fifteen minutes
Speaker 3: in the morning. You know this in any relationship, if
Speaker 3: you just a few minutes of focused time can make
Speaker 3: all the difference in the world. So I'm not talking
Speaker 3: about hours and hours. If you spend just a few
Speaker 3: minutes in the morning, evening, afternoon, whatever's best for you.
Speaker 3: But in that time, there's something you have to do.
Speaker 3: You have to not be busy. You have to do
Speaker 3: what Psalm forty six ten talks about.
Speaker 4: You have to be still.
Speaker 3: Some of you, those are terrifying words to you. I
Speaker 3: know you're busy all the time. Be still, and when
Speaker 3: you're still, then you know that he has gone. If
Speaker 3: you want to get to know God better, you got
Speaker 3: to spend time with him. If you want to spend
Speaker 3: time with him, you got to make time for him.
Speaker 2: Now. The fourth habit that you need to develop, and
Speaker 2: as I said, you can do all of these in
Speaker 2: about fifteen minutes a day, is this review where I
Speaker 2: need to grow. You need to every day do a
Speaker 2: little personal review of your life. Take a couple minutes
Speaker 2: out of every day during your quiet time with God,
Speaker 2: and you do a spiritual daily checkup. You take your
Speaker 2: spiritual pulse. You can do it during your quiet time.
Speaker 2: You say, Lord, where do I need to grow? What
Speaker 2: do I need to work on? Where am I weak?
Speaker 2: Where do you want me to be stronger. A good
Speaker 2: verse you might write this verse down is Psalm one
Speaker 2: thirty nine, twenty three and twenty four. Psalm one thirty nine,
Speaker 2: verse twenty three and twenty four be a good verse
Speaker 2: to memorize. It goes like this, search me, Oh God,
Speaker 2: and know my heart, try me, test me and know
Speaker 2: my thoughts. See if there's anything evil or wicked in
Speaker 2: my life, and lead me in the way that's everlasting.
Speaker 2: That's a good verse. I call it the search light verse.
Speaker 2: And I usually say this in the morning. I say, Okay, God,
Speaker 2: do a little heart check right now, do a little
Speaker 2: spiritual eeg and ekg and tell me what I need
Speaker 2: to work on today? Where do I keep growing? This
Speaker 2: takes humility, but it's a habit that will lead to happiness.
Speaker 2: You see, following Jesus is a decision followed by a process.
Speaker 2: The rest of your life, you can't follow without walking.
Speaker 2: You've got to have movement. So following Jesus is a
Speaker 2: decision followed by process. A lot of you have made
Speaker 2: the decision, but you haven't continued in the process. Some
Speaker 2: of you men, in particular, you're in the family of God.
Speaker 2: You said, yes, I've trusted Jesus for my salvation. I
Speaker 2: know there's no way I'm going to go to Heaven
Speaker 2: on my own merit. But you've never really grown, You've
Speaker 2: never taken You're too far to the beginning part. You
Speaker 2: haven't moved on. It's like the mom who heard about
Speaker 2: her thud in the middle of the night and she
Speaker 2: gets something, goes into the bedroom and finds out her
Speaker 2: son has fallen out of bed on the floor, and
Speaker 2: she said, how did you do that? He said, well,
Speaker 2: I guess I stayed too close to where I got in.
Speaker 2: And some of you have stayed too close to where
Speaker 2: you got in, and you haven't grown in your Christian life.
Speaker 2: You're saved, but you're not growing, And this is where
Speaker 2: you need to do a daily checkup. Say where do
Speaker 2: I need to grow today? I need to work on anger?
Speaker 2: Do I need to work on patients? Do I need
Speaker 2: to work on getting rid of jealousy? Do I need
Speaker 2: to work on watching my words? Do I need to
Speaker 2: work on being more relaxed in your grace? Philippians twelve
Speaker 2: three verses twelve and thirteen. Paul talks about this fourth habit.
Speaker 2: He says, I don't mean to say I'm perfect. Course
Speaker 2: he wasn't because none of us are. He says, I'm
Speaker 2: not saying I'm perfect. I still haven't learned all I should.
Speaker 2: In other words, he realizes it's a growth process. I'm
Speaker 2: not perfect, I haven't learned all I should. But I
Speaker 2: keep working. I keep working toward that day. I keep
Speaker 2: working toward that day when I will finally, finally be
Speaker 2: all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be. Now,
Speaker 2: dear brothers, I'm still not all I should be now
Speaker 2: to me. That verse is one of the most amazing
Speaker 2: verses in the Bible because it's written by the guy
Speaker 2: who wrote most of the New Testament. Paul is an
Speaker 2: older man. He's elderly, he's in prison in Rome, he's
Speaker 2: at the end of life. He's an incredibly mature person,
Speaker 2: and yet he says, I haven't arrived. If anybody had
Speaker 2: the right to say I've arrived spiritually, I would think
Speaker 2: it'd be the guy who wrote most of the New Testament.
Speaker 2: But Paul says, no, I haven't arrived. I'm up in
Speaker 2: the years. I'm up in age. I'm still growing, I'm
Speaker 2: still learning, I'm still becoming more like Christ. I'm not
Speaker 2: just sitting on my blessed assurance and waiting out the
Speaker 2: end of my life. No, no, it says, I'm humble,
Speaker 2: and I keep growing and keep growing. Now, what's the
Speaker 2: trap that'll keep you from doing this? Write it down? Pride?
Speaker 2: Pride will keep you from growing because when I pretend
Speaker 2: that I've got it all together, then I don't have
Speaker 2: it all together. Now we already know you don't have
Speaker 2: it all together. God knows you don't have it all together.
Speaker 2: You're the only one who won't admit you don't have
Speaker 2: it all together. So you might as well stop being
Speaker 2: prideful because we already know you don't have it all together.
Speaker 2: And you're not teasing anybody. It's not like you know
Speaker 2: the Wizard of Oz paying no attention to the man
Speaker 2: behind the curtain. We know you don't have it all together.
Speaker 2: And humility leads to happiness because it makes you teachable.
Speaker 2: Happy people never stop growing. Happy people never stop learning.
Speaker 2: Happy people never stop discovering, never stop stretching, never stop learning.
Speaker 2: If you've stopped growing, I can tell you you're miserable
Speaker 2: because you were made to grow, You were made to learn.
Speaker 2: You were made to be better next year than you
Speaker 2: are this year. And if you're just coasting, whenever you're coasting,
Speaker 2: your headed downhill. Every time you coast, you're heading downhill.
Speaker 2: So really, if you want to be happy, happiness and
Speaker 2: humility go together because humility says I'm teachable. Where do
Speaker 2: I need to learn? Okay, how can I be a
Speaker 2: better husband this next year? How can I be a
Speaker 2: better dad this next year? How can I be a
Speaker 2: better boss this next year? How can I be a
Speaker 2: better employer? How can I be a better employee? How
Speaker 2: can I be a better friend to my friends this
Speaker 2: next year? And you're doing this daily habit of reviewing
Speaker 2: where do I need to grow? I relax? In God's grace.
Speaker 2: You know, Okay, I relax in God's grace and I
Speaker 2: let God show me his love, and I remember what
Speaker 2: matters most, and I make the number one goal of
Speaker 2: my life to get to know Jesus every day. But
Speaker 2: during that time, I also say, okay, where do I
Speaker 2: need to keep growing? Now? The secret to growth is
Speaker 2: to be honest about yourself and to keep evaluating where
Speaker 2: you are. And this is what Paul says. Look at
Speaker 2: Two Corinthians thirteen to five. Paul says, test yourselves. Do
Speaker 2: you ever do that? Test yourselves to make sure you're
Speaker 2: solid in the faith. In other words, do a daily checkup,
Speaker 2: review where you need to grow, take your spiritual pulse.
Speaker 2: Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups.
Speaker 2: You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay that Jesus Christ
Speaker 2: is in you. Test it out, and if you fail
Speaker 2: to test, do something about it. I love that in
Speaker 2: the message. Now there's one other habit, and this is
Speaker 2: the fifth daily habit for hapingpiness found in Philippians chapter three,
Speaker 2: and it's this every day, forget what can't be changed
Speaker 2: and focus on the future. That is a habit of
Speaker 2: happiness every day. Forget what can't be changed, and focus
Speaker 2: on the future, not on the past. Your past is past,
Speaker 2: it's over, it's done, and all the worrying won't change
Speaker 2: the past at all one bit. So forget what can't
Speaker 2: be changed and focused on the future. Now, let's just
Speaker 2: be honest. You have been hurt a lot in your past.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. As your pastor as somebody who loves you,
Speaker 2: as somebody who prays for you, I know that you
Speaker 2: have been hurt a lot, and I've heard the stories
Speaker 2: many people hurt severely emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse,
Speaker 2: financial abuse, and You've been heard in many, many, many ways,
Speaker 2: and I'm sorry about that. Happiness requires letting go and
Speaker 2: learning to forget. Happiness requires letting go of the hurt
Speaker 2: and learning to forget.
Speaker 4: You.
Speaker 2: See, you can hold onto your pain. Nobody's going to
Speaker 2: force you to let it go. You can hold onto
Speaker 2: that pain, you can hold onto that memory, or you
Speaker 2: can be happy. But you can't be both. So you
Speaker 2: got to choose. So why don't you choose today? I'm
Speaker 2: going to stop letting the pain of my past control
Speaker 2: of my happiness in the present. Let it go, Let
Speaker 2: it go. Happiness involves learning to forget. Here's what Paul
Speaker 2: says in verse thirteen and fourteen. I am focusing all
Speaker 2: my energies on this one thing, forgetting the past and
Speaker 2: looking forward to what lies ahead. I strain to reach
Speaker 2: the end of the race and receive the prize for
Speaker 2: which God through Christ Jesus is calling us up to heaven.
Speaker 2: Now circle the phrase focusing all my energies. You only
Speaker 2: have a limited amount of energy. You don't have unlimited energy.
Speaker 2: That's why you get tired, That's why you get fatigued.
Speaker 2: That's why you get worn out, because you don't have
Speaker 2: an unlimited supply of energy. You're a human being. Since
Speaker 2: you only have a limited supply of energy, I highly
Speaker 2: recommend you not waste any of it on the past.
Speaker 2: Don't waste any emotional energy. Don't waste another second of
Speaker 2: your life on the past. The past is past. Would
Speaker 2: you like to change it? Yeah? Can you know?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 2: Forget it? Forget it. Use all your emotional energy on today,
Speaker 2: because that's all you've got. You can't even use it
Speaker 2: on tomorrow because you're not there yet. Don't waste I
Speaker 2: focus all my energy by forgetting the past and looking
Speaker 2: forward to what lays ahead. Now. This habit is so
Speaker 2: important to your happiness. There are three traps you have
Speaker 2: to be aware of, and you're gonna have to deal
Speaker 2: with these in order to live a happy life. Number
Speaker 2: one is the trap of regret. You gotta let go
Speaker 2: of regrets. That's stuff that I wish I'd done differently,
Speaker 2: you know, and we all second guess ourselves. Are there
Speaker 2: things I wish I'd done differently in your life and life?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? Of course there are, but I
Speaker 2: can't dwell on them because the past has passed and
Speaker 2: I can't change it. It's done, so I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: waste any emotion on regrets. That's the stuff I've done wrong.
Speaker 2: The second trap is unforgiveness or resentment, and that's the
Speaker 2: stuff that people have done to you. You've done bad things.
Speaker 2: That's guilt, shame, regret, and people have done bad things
Speaker 2: to you. That's resentment, unforgiveness and bitterness. Either way, you
Speaker 2: get stuck in the past. What I've done wrong or
Speaker 2: what other has done wrong to me. Either way you
Speaker 2: get stuck in the past. Holding onto resentment is dumb.
Speaker 2: It doesn't hurt anybody but you. The whole time you're
Speaker 2: thinking about that person who hurt me so bad, they're
Speaker 2: out there having a steak dinner. They're not even thinking
Speaker 2: about you, So your resentment is not hurting them. The
Speaker 2: only person you hurt with unforgiveness is you let it go.
Speaker 2: For your own sake, you must forgive. Do they deserve it? No?
Speaker 2: But do you deserve forgiveness from God?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Those who experience grace are gracious, and you let them
Speaker 2: off the hook. Why because God let you off the hook,
Speaker 2: and because you don't want to hold onto the pain,
Speaker 2: you want to let it go. There's one other thing
Speaker 2: that's going to keep you stuck in the past and
Speaker 2: cause you to be unhappy. And this one's going to
Speaker 2: surprise you. But it's it's a trap, the trap of tradition,
Speaker 2: tradition that it's the famous seven last words. We've always
Speaker 2: done it that way, We've always got famous seven last words. Now,
Speaker 2: have you noticed that things change? Yeah? Every day things change.
Speaker 2: Have you noticed your body is changing? Not for the good? Okay,
Speaker 2: your body is changing. Relationships change, the weather changes, culture changes.
Speaker 2: Everything is constantly changing, and you cannot stop change. So
Speaker 2: you have to decide. I can either get mad and
Speaker 2: resist and resent these changes that are happening, or I
Speaker 2: can choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice. Your
Speaker 2: as happy as you choose to be. Remember, And so
Speaker 2: even in the middle of changes I don't like, I
Speaker 2: can choose to be happy. I saw a bumper sticker
Speaker 2: the other day and said, if you dislike change, then
Speaker 2: irrelevancy is going to appeal to you even less, because
Speaker 2: if you don't change with the times, you become irrelevant. Now,
Speaker 2: how you handle change in life reveals your spiritual maturity.
Speaker 2: It reveals how connected to God you are. The more
Speaker 2: connected to God you are, you're connected to the eternal.
Speaker 2: So it doesn't matter what's changing down here. Anything that's
Speaker 2: in style will be out of style tomorrow. One minute
Speaker 2: you're a hero, the next minute you're a zero. Things
Speaker 2: just constantly change. But if I'm geared and guided and
Speaker 2: anchored to eternity that's never changing, and I'm tuned into God,
Speaker 2: then change can take over place all around me, and
Speaker 2: I can choose to be happy, and I don't resent
Speaker 2: and regret and get mad and those kind of things.
Speaker 2: If you want to be happy, Isaiah forty three says
Speaker 2: this Tosday forty three seventeen eighteen. God says, forget the
Speaker 2: former things and do not dwell on the past. See
Speaker 2: I am doing a new thing. That's the fifth habit.
Speaker 2: Let's bower heads. Happiness is a choice, and in many
Speaker 2: ways it's a matter of the habits you choose to develop.
Speaker 2: These five habits in Philippians chapter three are all things
Speaker 2: you can do in about fifteen minutes a day during
Speaker 2: a daily quiet time. So I challenge you to make
Speaker 2: this commitment right now, say, Dear God, just say this
Speaker 2: in your mind. Dear God. I want to learn to
Speaker 2: relax in your grace every day, to not try to
Speaker 2: earn your approval, but to realize you already love me,
Speaker 2: and you will never love me any less or any more.
Speaker 2: I want to reject legalism, trying to prove my worth
Speaker 2: by rules, restrictions, regulation. I want to live by grace
Speaker 2: and I want to be gracious to everybody else. And then, Lord,
Speaker 2: say this, help me to focus every day on what
Speaker 2: matters most, To not believe the advertisements, to not spend
Speaker 2: and waste and worry my life away on things that
Speaker 2: aren't going to matter even a week from today, much
Speaker 2: less in eternity. Help me to focus on the eternal,
Speaker 2: what's going to last for eternity, not what's in style.
Speaker 2: And Dear God, I want to make getting to know
Speaker 2: Jesus better the number one goal of my life. And
Speaker 2: every day I want to know you a little bit better,
Speaker 2: and I want to love you a little bit more.
Speaker 2: And I want to spend time with you every day
Speaker 2: in a quiet time to read your word and to
Speaker 2: pray and to listen in conversation with you. Dear God,
Speaker 2: I want to start a daily spiritual checkup during my
Speaker 2: quiet time. I'll just say, Lord, where do I need
Speaker 2: to grow? And help me to forget what can't be
Speaker 2: changed in my past and help me to let it
Speaker 2: go and instead help me to focus in faith on
Speaker 2: the future and what you have in store for me.
Speaker 2: If you've never opened up your life to Christ, say
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, come into my life right now. I want
Speaker 2: to get to know you. I want to learn to
Speaker 2: love you, trust you. I don't want a religion. I
Speaker 2: want a relationship with you. Father. I thank you for
Speaker 2: your word that it's practical, it's relevant, and it leads
Speaker 2: us to the happy life that you want us to live.
Speaker 2: When we focus on what's eternal, not what's current. I
Speaker 2: pray a blessing on all of our church family in
Speaker 2: the name of the Father, and the Son and the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit. Amen. Wow.
Speaker 1: Some powerful words from Pastor Rick today. And now this
Speaker 1: is really one of my favorite parts of the broadcast.
Speaker 1: This is letters from our listeners and now here's Rick.
Speaker 2: Have you ever noticed that your day goes better when
Speaker 2: you start with God's Word. That's been true in my life,
Speaker 2: and I'm certain it'll make a difference in your life too,
Speaker 2: when you choose to get into God's word first thing
Speaker 2: every day. It's one of the most important habits you
Speaker 2: can develop. Here's an email from a man named Jeremy
Speaker 2: who says connecting with God every morning has made such
Speaker 2: a big difference in his life. He says, you know, Rick,
Speaker 2: daily hope fills my mind with truth. When I begin
Speaker 2: each day at three a m. Wow, I realize that
Speaker 2: daily hope helps fill my mind with the good stuff
Speaker 2: and crowds out all the negative. Because truth and hope
Speaker 2: have really changed my attitude throughout the day. So you
Speaker 2: can take it from Jeremy. God's word at the start
Speaker 2: of your day will change your day in a positive way.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening today. Everybody. I love you, I thank
Speaker 2: God for you, and I'm praying for you.
Speaker 1: Did you know that you can start every day with
Speaker 1: hope and encouragement from Pastor Rick, Well, you can when
Speaker 1: you sign up to receive his life changing Bible study
Speaker 1: teaching delivered directly to your inbox. Just go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com and sign up for this free Daily Hope devotional.
Speaker 1: You'll love it. Be sure to join us next time
Speaker 1: 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