Speaker 1: Hi, this is Pastor Rick Warren. You know, the Bible
Speaker 1: says that God's mercies are new every morning. That means
Speaker 1: every day you get a chance to start over, new day,
Speaker 1: new vision, new goals, new mercy. That's good news. We're
Speaker 1: going to be talking about it all year here at
Speaker 1: Daily Hope. So God bless you everybody. I'm glad you're
Speaker 1: listening today and stick with us through the whole year.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 2: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series
Speaker 2: called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick uncovers key principles found
Speaker 2: in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from
Speaker 2: the inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,
Speaker 2: and vocational. Now, if you can improve in any of
Speaker 2: these areas I just mentioned, stay with us, because in
Speaker 2: just a few months we're going to let you know
Speaker 2: how you can have your very own Transformed study kit
Speaker 2: from Pastor Rick, which includes a seven session DVD and workbook.
Speaker 2: You can take a sneak peek right now by going
Speaker 2: to Pastorick dot com while you listen, and if you want,
Speaker 2: you can just text the word Daily to eight hundred,
Speaker 2: six hundred, five thousand and four to find out more.
Speaker 2: Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part
Speaker 2: of a message called from Stressed to Blessed.
Speaker 1: Now, another common source of stress is conflict, opposition, criticism, attacks,
Speaker 1: and there are people in your life who simply don't
Speaker 1: like you. There are people you work with they criticize you,
Speaker 1: maybe out of jealousy, maybe out of fear. But maybe
Speaker 1: there are people in your life in your own family.
Speaker 1: Maybe there's a family member who will not let you
Speaker 1: enjoy anything. They just are always ragging on you. They're
Speaker 1: always putting you down. They never have a positive word.
Speaker 1: If you have any success, they downplay it, they minimize it.
Speaker 1: And you've had these people in your life and they're
Speaker 1: always attacking you, and they're always putting you down, and
Speaker 1: they're always criticizing you. And when that happens, your natural
Speaker 1: response is what attack back, criticize back, retaliate, get even.
Speaker 1: But when you get even with somebody who's criticizing you,
Speaker 1: it puts you on the same level. Now, if you've
Speaker 1: forgive them, it puts you above them. But if you
Speaker 1: get even, you're no better than they are. Now because
Speaker 1: of the pluralization in our society. We have people around
Speaker 1: us all the time who totally disagree with us. People
Speaker 1: live with around you and work around you who don't
Speaker 1: agree with you and don't like you, and maybe don't
Speaker 1: even like Jesus, And as a result, they will criticize
Speaker 1: you and they will put you down. And there are
Speaker 1: other reasons too too, not just because of that, but
Speaker 1: in our society today, our civilization is losing its civility.
Speaker 1: The world is getting more rude. Would you agree with that?
Speaker 1: And one of the things that's causing that is the Internet,
Speaker 1: Because the Internet allows you to hide behind anonymously, behind
Speaker 1: the screen and spout all kinds of vile things against
Speaker 1: other people, and things that people would never say to
Speaker 1: you face to face. They wouldn't have the curious say.
Speaker 1: They'll spout off and they will minimize you and belittle you,
Speaker 1: and they'll be rude to you, and they'll criticize you,
Speaker 1: and they will attack you. On the internet, all they
Speaker 1: are doing is revealing the smallest of their heart. Little
Speaker 1: people be little people, Little people be little people. Great
Speaker 1: people make people feel great. So when somebody's always belittling
Speaker 1: other people, they are just revealing the smallness of their heart,
Speaker 1: that they have a little not for a heart, and
Speaker 1: they have to be little others thinking that it's going
Speaker 1: to make them feel better. How do you handle rude people?
Speaker 1: How do you handle mean people? You don't? You let
Speaker 1: God handle them. You let God be your defender. Now,
Speaker 1: David is a pro at this because David knows what
Speaker 1: it means to be attacked, not just emotionally or verbally,
Speaker 1: but literally physically. In the story of King David, David,
Speaker 1: as a young man, was anointed by Samuel, God's prophet
Speaker 1: to be the next king of Israel, but it was
Speaker 1: done in secret, so nobody knew about it. David knew
Speaker 1: about it, His family knew about it. He knew he
Speaker 1: was the rightful king. But then for the next years,
Speaker 1: the better part of much of his life, he spends
Speaker 1: it running from the first king who wants to kill him.
Speaker 1: And he's hiding in caves, and he's being maligned, and
Speaker 1: he's being demeaned, and he's being put down, and rumors
Speaker 1: are being told about him. He's being criticized constantly, and
Speaker 1: yet he never would say a bad word against the king.
Speaker 1: He would never attack back, he would never retaliate. He
Speaker 1: only said good and God was preparing David to be
Speaker 1: the king after his own heart. And David says, so,
Speaker 1: I'm twenty three verse five. Look at this verse. You
Speaker 1: prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,
Speaker 1: and you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows.
Speaker 1: What's David talking about here? It's a metaphor. He's saying,
Speaker 1: you know what, God is so good to me. He says,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you, David, a banquet in front
Speaker 1: of your enemies, and I'm going to anoint your head
Speaker 1: with oil, which is a symbol that says, I'm going
Speaker 1: to say to the world, this is my guy. Back off,
Speaker 1: this is the guy I've chosen. This is the guy
Speaker 1: who's going to be the next leader. He anoints my
Speaker 1: head with my cup overloads. God, you are so good
Speaker 1: to me, in spite of my attackers, in spite of
Speaker 1: my critics, You just keep blessing me and blessing me
Speaker 1: and blessing me. And he says, I'm just gonna trust
Speaker 1: you and I'm gonna let you be my defender. Saw
Speaker 1: I'm eighteen verse one and two. David says this, how
Speaker 1: I love you, Lord, You are my defender against criticism
Speaker 1: and everything else. You are my protector. You are my
Speaker 1: strong fortress. In you, I am safe. You protect me
Speaker 1: like a shield. Does David sound stressed out there? No,
Speaker 1: but he's riding this in a cave. I'm not worried.
Speaker 1: God's in control. God is my defender. I don't have
Speaker 1: to defend myself. God'll take care of me. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you something. It takes a lot of faith to
Speaker 1: rest when you're under attack. It takes a lot of
Speaker 1: faith to trust God and just not defend yourself. When
Speaker 1: you're being maligned, you're being misunderstood, you're being misjudged in
Speaker 1: your office by other workers, rumors are spreading about you,
Speaker 1: or people saying things about you online. When that happens,
Speaker 1: everything and you wants to rise up saying I've got
Speaker 1: to do something about that. I got to correct this,
Speaker 1: I got to teach the truth when you're under attack.
Speaker 1: But it takes faith to rest God. It also takes humility.
Speaker 1: It takes humility to not retaliate, but to let God
Speaker 1: be your defender. You are most like Christ when you
Speaker 1: remain silent under attack.
Speaker 2: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, rip will be
Speaker 2: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 2: You can sign up for Pastor ricks free email devotional
Speaker 2: at pastor Rick dot that's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: Have you ever noticed that the world has ever changing
Speaker 3: so called answers to your relationship struggles, solutions to your
Speaker 3: financial troubles, and explanations to your search for meaning? But
Speaker 3: what the world offers often leaves us empty and searching
Speaker 3: for more. The good news is God's Word contains timeless
Speaker 3: truths that can transform every area of your life from
Speaker 3: the inside out. That's why Pastor Rick created a very
Speaker 3: special Bible study called Transformed. In it, he'll help you
Speaker 3: discover the key Biblical principles that will completely transform you
Speaker 3: by changing the way you think. Pastor Rick covers every
Speaker 3: area of your life spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,
Speaker 3: and vocational, filled with weekly lessons, daily devotions, and exercises
Speaker 3: to help you go deeper in God's Word. This seven
Speaker 3: week DVD and workbook study is perfect to do on
Speaker 3: your own or with a small group of friends. We'll
Speaker 3: send you the Transformed Study kid as our way of
Speaker 3: saying thanks when you give a gift to Daily Hope
Speaker 3: to help take the certain Hope of Jesus to people
Speaker 3: around the world. To get your copy of this great resource,
Speaker 3: call eight hundred to six hundred five zero zero four
Speaker 3: or go to Pastorick dot com. That's eight hundred six
Speaker 3: hundred five zero zero four or Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 2: Once again, here's Rick.
Speaker 1: You are most like Christ when you remain silent under attack.
Speaker 1: Jesus was constantly attacked, and who is the attack by
Speaker 1: the religious people. The religious people did not like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Common ordinary everyday people. They love Jesus. Prostitutes, the pimps,
Speaker 1: the tax collectors, the crooks, the thieves, the poor, all
Speaker 1: the outcast people, the lepers, they all loved Jesus. It
Speaker 1: was the religious people who could not stand Jesus. They
Speaker 1: called them a glutton, They called them a drunk. They
Speaker 1: called him a son of the devil, They called him
Speaker 1: the devil himself. They said he came from the devil.
Speaker 1: They said he's a false leader, false prophet, and on
Speaker 1: and on and on. Jesus never ever retaliated, He never
Speaker 1: got him back, he never corrected them. He just remained silent.
Speaker 1: In fact, even right before he goes to the cross.
Speaker 1: The Saddestcees and the Pharisees take Jesus into custody. They
Speaker 1: make him a prisoner. They take him to the Roman
Speaker 1: governor pilot and they say the pilot, this guy is
Speaker 1: trying to overthrow Rome. Now they couldn't even find any
Speaker 1: witnesses to corroborate this. It was just a total bogus lie.
Speaker 1: Jesus said this, blessed to you. When men shall revile
Speaker 1: you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil
Speaker 1: against you falsely, for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad,
Speaker 1: For great is your reward in heaven. Not only are
Speaker 1: you going to be rewarded in heaven, but God gives
Speaker 1: you when you refuse to retaliate, but you respond in love.
Speaker 1: You say nothing but good things about your critics. When
Speaker 1: you do that, God gives you more power, gives you
Speaker 1: more influence, gives you more authority, and gives you more anointing.
Speaker 1: Your critics end up actually helping you. Is that cool
Speaker 1: or what?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 1: Then that's how you can thank God for your critics,
Speaker 1: Because thank you God for these critics, because it allows
Speaker 1: me an opportunity to be more like Jesus, which means
Speaker 1: I'm going to get more love, more power, more grace
Speaker 1: than my life, more blessing, and they end up actually
Speaker 1: causing you to be more blessed than before. You're blessed,
Speaker 1: not stressed. Peter has a good way to say this
Speaker 1: one Peter four nineteen. So, if you're suffering according to
Speaker 1: God's will, keep on doing what is right. By the way,
Speaker 1: notice some suffering is God's will. Some people say, well,
Speaker 1: suffering is never God's will. Well, they just haven't read
Speaker 1: the Bible, because it says it right there. Some suffering
Speaker 1: is God's will. If you're suffering according to God's will,
Speaker 1: keep on doing what is right and trust yourself to
Speaker 1: the God who made you, for he will never fail you.
Speaker 1: Now there's one more common source of stress, and that
Speaker 1: is fearing the future. And so the seventh thing David
Speaker 1: says in this beautiful psalm is I expect God to
Speaker 1: finish what he starts in me. I expect God to
Speaker 1: finish what he starts in me. Now, are you a
Speaker 1: person who's afraid of the future? Are you a what ifer?
Speaker 1: You're always what ifing? What if this happened? If this
Speaker 1: this went wrong? What if that went bad? If what if?
Speaker 1: What if, what if? If you're a what iffer, it
Speaker 1: leads to enormous amount of stress in your life. It's
Speaker 1: unnecessary stress, because here's what David says. So I'm twenty
Speaker 1: three verse six. Surely goodness and love. Goodness and love
Speaker 1: will follow me all the days of my life. That's
Speaker 1: what I've got to look forward to. Goodness and love
Speaker 1: will follow me all the days of my life, and
Speaker 1: I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Speaker 1: I'm going to heaven anyway. You know, when a shepherd
Speaker 1: has a flock of sheep, he usually has a couple
Speaker 1: of sheep dogs. He's leading it from the front, and
Speaker 1: the sheep dogs are at the back, keeping everybody kind
Speaker 1: of in line. And these twin sheep dogs of mercy
Speaker 1: and love or goodness and love, or like little sheep
Speaker 1: dogs in your life, following along through your life? Is
Speaker 1: that what you expect? Are you? You can even look
Speaker 1: at your future on two ways. You could say, man,
Speaker 1: what if everything goes wrong? What if I don't have
Speaker 1: enough money, what if I lose my job? What if
Speaker 1: somebody walks out on me? What if? What if? What if?
Speaker 1: You can do that, or you can look at the
Speaker 1: future and say, surely, goodness and love will follow me
Speaker 1: all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in
Speaker 1: the house of the Lord forever. Those are your options.
Speaker 1: You can neither see it from God's viewpoint or you
Speaker 1: can see it from your fearful anxiety. How do you
Speaker 1: lower the stress? You say, I'm going to expect God
Speaker 1: to finish what he starts, and even if everything went
Speaker 1: wrong in my life, I'm still going to heaven. I
Speaker 1: will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Now,
Speaker 1: what do you expect? What you expect? There's a word
Speaker 1: for that. It's called a goal. And that's why I remember,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get you each week to set one
Speaker 1: goal during fifty days of transformation. If you don't set goals,
Speaker 1: you're not living by faith, because goals are statements of faith.
Speaker 1: Set a goal for your physical health and your spiritual
Speaker 1: Next week, we're going to look at emotional and mental
Speaker 1: and spiritual, all these other areas. He said, I'm just
Speaker 1: tired of the pace I've been living. I can't maintain this.
Speaker 1: It's not sustainable, it's not satisfying, it's not even any fun.
Speaker 1: And we'll deal with those in the weeks ahead. I
Speaker 1: don't know what burden you're caring. I don't know what's
Speaker 1: weighing you down, but I do know the answer. The
Speaker 1: last verse on your outline, Jesus says this, come to me.
Speaker 1: Come to me, not come to church, not come to class,
Speaker 1: not come to clinic. Come to me. Jesus says, all
Speaker 1: you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I
Speaker 1: will give you more work to do. I think some
Speaker 1: people actually think that's what the verse says. Come to me,
Speaker 1: if you're weary in carrying heavy burdens, and Jesus says,
Speaker 1: I will give you what circle that rest rest. Take
Speaker 1: my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I'm
Speaker 1: gentle and humble in heart, and you'll find rest for
Speaker 1: your souls, for my yolk is easy and my burden
Speaker 1: is light. For many years I never understood that verse
Speaker 1: first place. As a kid, I didn't know what a
Speaker 1: yolk was. I thought it was like the part around
Speaker 1: the egg, okay, in the middle of the egg. A
Speaker 1: yoke is a board that is stretched with two arches
Speaker 1: in it, that you put over two cattle, so the
Speaker 1: two cattle will pull a cart. The value of a
Speaker 1: yoke is it halves the load without a yolk, you
Speaker 1: got one cow, he's got to pull that entire load
Speaker 1: by itself. But if you yoke up the cow with
Speaker 1: another cow, then the two cows together pull the load together,
Speaker 1: and the load is half as heavy. That makes sense.
Speaker 1: So when Jesus says take my yoke upon you, I
Speaker 1: didn't know. I just thought it was like sounded me like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's gonna give me something else I gotta deal with.
Speaker 1: Take my yoke. I gotta have enough burden myself. Lord,
Speaker 1: I don't need to take your problems on me. That's
Speaker 1: not what at all that he's saying when he says
Speaker 1: take my yoke upon you. He's not saying I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you my problem. Jesus doesn't have any problems. He's saying,
Speaker 1: take my yoke upon you. I'm gonna share your problem.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna share your load. I'm gonna take your stress,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna pull it with you. Wow. Now he
Speaker 1: says three verbs in this verse. He says, come to me, Jesus,
Speaker 1: and he says, take the yoke on you. Team up
Speaker 1: with me, and then learn how I do it. This
Speaker 1: is going to lighten your load. This is going to
Speaker 1: reduce your stress. This is going to make it easier
Speaker 1: for you to navigate. Now write this down. When I'm
Speaker 1: yoked with Christ, we move together, because you're obviously yoked together.
Speaker 1: We move together in the same direction and at the
Speaker 1: same speed. And those two are the problems that you have.
Speaker 1: You're going in the wrong direction and you're going at
Speaker 1: the wrong speed. But when yoke up with Christ, you
Speaker 1: will go in the right direction, and you will go
Speaker 1: at the speed that you can handle. And when you're
Speaker 1: yoke to Christ, you're not going to go off in
Speaker 1: a ditch because he's going to keep you on the
Speaker 1: right path. And when you're yoke to Christ, you're not
Speaker 1: going to run too fast and burn yourself out. Because
Speaker 1: your yoke to Christ, you need to come to him. Now,
Speaker 1: that's power heads, Jesus, you said to come to you,
Speaker 1: So I come to you, and I want to take
Speaker 1: your yoke on me. I want to team up with you.
Speaker 1: I want to learn of you, and I want to
Speaker 1: move forward in the direction and at the pace that
Speaker 1: you choose. Slow me down, Lord, that I may see
Speaker 1: your plan for my life. Jesus Christ, I invite you
Speaker 1: to take over every area of my life. And my
Speaker 1: mind and replace my stress with your serenity. In your name,
Speaker 1: I pray Amen. Hi everybody, this is Rick and I
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed today's broadcast. You know, if you just
Speaker 1: prayed that prayer for the very first time, or you
Speaker 1: just recommitted your life to Jesus again today, would you
Speaker 1: let me know about it. There's something real about sharing
Speaker 1: your commitment. So write me Rick at pastor Rick dot
Speaker 1: com and say, Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.
Speaker 1: I gave my life to Christ. And I'll send you
Speaker 1: some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus.
Speaker 1: And I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 2: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy that
Speaker 2: you've chosen to study along with us today. If you'd
Speaker 2: like to receive ricks free daily devotional, just go to
Speaker 2: Pastorick dot com and sign up Right now. Rick will
Speaker 2: be back to close out our time today. But first,
Speaker 2: you know the world is shouting for our attention with
Speaker 2: answers to our relationship struggles, solutions to our financial troubles,
Speaker 2: and explanations to our search for meaning. But the world's
Speaker 2: promises leave us empty and searching for more, God's word
Speaker 2: contains the only answers that promise to transform your life
Speaker 2: from the inside out. That's why Pastor Rick has put
Speaker 2: together the Transformed Study Kit, which includes a vegan leather
Speaker 2: bound interactive workbook and a seven video session DVD. Right now,
Speaker 2: here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.
Speaker 1: During this series on transformation, we've been talking about seven
Speaker 1: key areas of your life spiritual health, physical health, mental health.
Speaker 1: We've talked about emotional health, your relational health, your financial health,
Speaker 1: even your vocational your career health. God cares about every
Speaker 1: one of these areas in your life. And did you
Speaker 1: know He wants to bless each of these areas. And
Speaker 1: He's given us principles and steps in his words for
Speaker 1: living healthy, fulfilled lives, not for our happiness alone, but
Speaker 1: ultimately for God's glory, for his happiness, for his joy.
Speaker 1: God enjoys watching his children be effective in life. Now,
Speaker 1: the truth is we can't change or transform these areas
Speaker 1: on our own. We have to start trusting God to
Speaker 1: create the changes within us. The Bible teaches that the
Speaker 1: closer we get to God, the more our lives will
Speaker 1: be transformed. And in Jeremiah twenty nine, thirteen. God says,
Speaker 1: you'll find me when you get serious about finding me
Speaker 1: and want it more than anything else. So I want you,
Speaker 1: and I want me and all of us to get
Speaker 1: serious about discovering God's wisdom and allowing him to transform
Speaker 1: our lives. Imagine the difference the world would be if
Speaker 1: lives were really transformed by the grace of God. Now,
Speaker 1: it's always been my goal here at Daily Hope not
Speaker 1: just to show you what God says to do and
Speaker 1: how to do it, but to supply you with practical
Speaker 1: tools for doing it on a daily basis. So I've
Speaker 1: created a special Transformed Bible study Kit. Now, in this kit,
Speaker 1: there are a number of resources that I want you
Speaker 1: to have. First, seven lessons on DVD that help you
Speaker 1: go deeper and explore what the Bible has to say
Speaker 1: about each of these seven key areas of your life.
Speaker 1: And then there's a two hundred and twenty five page
Speaker 1: workbook filled with tools for personal evaluation, goal setting, daily devotions,
Speaker 1: versus to memorize, a place to take notes and journal
Speaker 1: information about additional resources. This study kit can be used
Speaker 1: not just in your personal life, but as a small
Speaker 1: group study guide with your friends. I want to send
Speaker 1: the Transformation Bible Study Kit to you as my gift
Speaker 1: to tell you how much I love you and to
Speaker 1: say thanks for your financial support of Daily Hope. If
Speaker 1: you can give any kind of financial support to keep
Speaker 1: this broadcast expanding throughout the world to share the message
Speaker 1: of hope of God's Word, I want you to have
Speaker 1: the Transformed Bible Study Kit. When you give to Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: it helps us share the message around the world in
Speaker 1: places where there are no Bibles, no bodies of Christ,
Speaker 1: and no believers. I want you to know that I
Speaker 1: love you, and I thank God for you, and I
Speaker 1: hope you'll join me next time as we continue to
Speaker 1: look into God's Word for our Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: To get your copy of this great resource, call eight
Speaker 2: hundred six hundred five thousand and four or go to
Speaker 2: Pastorrick dot com that's eight hundred six hundred five thousand
Speaker 2: and four or pastorrig dot com. This program is sponsored
Speaker 2: by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.