Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
Speaker 1: the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, We're so
Speaker 1: glad you've joined us today. We're continuing a powerful series
Speaker 1: called radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots. And in this series, Rick
Speaker 1: will show you how to grow deep in your faith,
Speaker 1: stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created
Speaker 1: you to be. And now here's part two of a
Speaker 1: message called radical gratitude.
Speaker 2: What is the definition of radical gratitude? Well, turn your
Speaker 2: outline over and the Bible tells us of first Thesalonians
Speaker 2: five eighteen. This is the definition of radical gratitude. He's
Speaker 2: not talking about just saying well, I'm thankful for my
Speaker 2: parents or my family. Anybody can do that. I'm thankful
Speaker 2: for pumpkin pie. Anybody can say that I'm thankful for
Speaker 2: freedom and health. Anybody can say that. Takes no intelligence,
Speaker 2: no character, no faith to be grateful for the good
Speaker 2: things in your life. Radical gratitude is this one Thesalonians
Speaker 2: five eighteen. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is
Speaker 2: God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That's radical gratitude.
Speaker 2: In all circumstances. Give thanks for this is God's will
Speaker 2: for you in Christ Jesus. Now, friends, this is such
Speaker 2: an important verse. I want to tear it apart word
Speaker 2: by word. Here First, it says give thanks. That means gratitude.
Speaker 2: It means appreciation, It means recognition, it means praise. It
Speaker 2: means given credit to people where credit is due. In everything,
Speaker 2: give thanks. By the way, the phrase gift thanks here
Speaker 2: in the Greek word is the word eucharistaas Actually if
Speaker 2: ukuli stayo yukari stayal is the word.
Speaker 3: We get eucharist from.
Speaker 2: Has anybody ever heard this word eucharist? Eucharist is one
Speaker 2: of the words that we call the Lord's supper. It's
Speaker 2: called communion, it's called the lord Lord's supper, it's called
Speaker 2: the Eucharist. What does that mean? That's the Greek word
Speaker 2: that simply means give thanks. And when we take the
Speaker 2: Lord's Supper together, we're giving thanks to God for his salvation,
Speaker 2: for his forgiveness, for our home in heaven, and all
Speaker 2: of these things. We're just giving thanks. Now it says
Speaker 2: give thanks in circle the word in, and then it
Speaker 2: says all circle the word all. Now first notice, give
Speaker 2: thanks in all circumstances. It does not say give thanks
Speaker 2: for all circumstances. Big difference doesn't say four. It says
Speaker 2: in you don't have to be thankful for the bad
Speaker 2: in your life. You don't have to be thankful for evil.
Speaker 2: And there's a lot of evil in the world. If
Speaker 2: a little girl gets kidnapped and molested and killed, you
Speaker 2: don't ever have to be thankful for that. If a
Speaker 2: woman gets raped, you don't ever have to be thankful
Speaker 2: for that. When a car by a drunk plows into
Speaker 2: somebody and a family dies, you don't have to be
Speaker 2: thankful for that. The Bible does not say be thankful
Speaker 2: for all evil. There's a lot of evil that would
Speaker 2: make God a sicko. Everything that happens in the world
Speaker 2: is not God's will, because well it must be God's
Speaker 2: will blowney. Most of the times God's will is not done,
Speaker 2: My will is done. That's why we're to pray Thy
Speaker 2: will be done on earth as it is in heaven,
Speaker 2: because in heaven God's will is always done, and on
Speaker 2: earth God's will is rarely done. So don't blame God
Speaker 2: for all the evil in the world. And you certainly
Speaker 2: don't have to thank God for it. He doesn't say
Speaker 2: thank God for it, he says thank God in it.
Speaker 2: Why can I thank God in every circumstance. Well, there's
Speaker 2: a number of reasons. One, I know God is in control.
Speaker 2: I know God can bring good out of evil. I
Speaker 2: know even the stupid mistakes I make, God can turn
Speaker 2: it around. I know that I'm not gonna have to
Speaker 2: live on earth forever. I know I'm gonna go to
Speaker 2: Heaven one day. I know I can't lose my salvation.
Speaker 2: I know that no matter what happens, God isn't gonna
Speaker 2: stop loving me. I could think of one hundred things
Speaker 2: that I can be thankful for in the circumstance, even
Speaker 2: when the circumstance stinks. It doesn't say for everything. It
Speaker 2: says in now, It says in all things now. That
Speaker 2: word there all circumstances all. The Greek word is the
Speaker 2: word poss and posse means any all everything, anyone, all
Speaker 2: the time, anywhere, everywhere, the whole thing. It means no exception,
Speaker 2: no excuses, no exemptions. God expects you to be grateful
Speaker 2: in every circumstance. That's called radical gratitude. Anybody can be
Speaker 2: grateful for the nice presence somebody just gave you. But
Speaker 2: to be grateful in all circumstances is radical gratitude. In
Speaker 2: give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will
Speaker 2: for you. In Christ Jesus, people say, I need to
Speaker 2: know God's will.
Speaker 3: There it is.
Speaker 2: What God wants me to do with my life. There
Speaker 2: it is in everything. Give thanks. This is God's will
Speaker 2: for you. He say, What am I supposed to do
Speaker 2: in the next decade. Am I supposed to get a
Speaker 2: new job. Am I supposed to go to school? Am
Speaker 2: I supposed to get married? Am I supposed to move overseas?
Speaker 2: What am I supposed to do? God says, I'll tell
Speaker 2: you number two when you start doing number one. Okay,
Speaker 2: all those other number twos will work on those three, four, five, six,
Speaker 2: But first let's work on this one. I want you
Speaker 2: to in everything learn to give thanks for this is
Speaker 2: My will for you. Once you got that one done,
Speaker 2: we'll start talking about number two, three, four, five, and six.
Speaker 2: This is clear. In everything, give thanks. This is God's
Speaker 2: will for you.
Speaker 3: Now? Why why is that true?
Speaker 2: Why is it always God's will no matter what happens
Speaker 2: in my life, that I am to give thanks not
Speaker 2: for the circumstances. But in the circumstance, why is that
Speaker 2: God's will?
Speaker 3: Reasons?
Speaker 2: You might write these down number one, because it honors God.
Speaker 2: Gratitude honors God. Anytime you thank anyone, you honor them.
Speaker 2: For instance, if I say to my wife, Honey, I
Speaker 2: am so grateful for that great Thanksgiving dinner you made,
Speaker 2: I have just honored my wife. When I say to
Speaker 2: her mom, Mom, I want to thank you for having
Speaker 2: ka so I could marry her, I am honoring her.
Speaker 2: When I say to you, thank you for opening the
Speaker 2: door for me, or thank you for coming to another service,
Speaker 2: or thank you, But what I am honoring you. Anytime
Speaker 2: you express gratitude, you honor that person. The Bible says
Speaker 2: this about God giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly
Speaker 2: honors me. When you sacrifice your giving thanks, what are
Speaker 2: you sacrificing your time, your money, your thought? It takes
Speaker 2: time to think of things to be grateful for. Now,
Speaker 2: my life likes for me to say thank you for
Speaker 2: the things she does for me. But if that's all
Speaker 2: I ever did, she'd begin to wonder does.
Speaker 3: He really love me?
Speaker 2: Or does he just love me for the things I
Speaker 2: do for him? At some point I have to start
Speaker 2: moving to the higher level of thanksgiving, which is not
Speaker 2: just thanking my wife for what she does, but thanking
Speaker 2: my wife for who she is. That's a higher level
Speaker 2: of thanksgiving. If my kids came to me and the
Speaker 2: only time they thank me is when I give them
Speaker 2: an allowance, I begin to wonder do they love me
Speaker 2: or do they just love the money. Now, if all
Speaker 2: you do is thank God, God, thank you for letting
Speaker 2: me get into this class. God, thank you for giving
Speaker 2: me this food. Thank you God for the things you
Speaker 2: do for me, God starts going, do you really love
Speaker 2: me or do you just love the things I do
Speaker 2: for you? You need to learn to thank God not
Speaker 2: just for what he does, but who he is.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 2: I thank you that you're smarter than me. I thank
Speaker 2: you that your wisdom is greater. I thank you that
Speaker 2: you know it'll make me happy more than I do.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 2: I thank you that you're consistent when I'm inconsistent. I
Speaker 2: thank you for your love. I thank you for your mercy.
Speaker 2: I thank you God that you're always fair. I thank
Speaker 2: you that even when I don't understand it, you have
Speaker 2: my best interest at heart.
Speaker 3: That's thanking God for who.
Speaker 2: He is and you need to get beyond the thank
Speaker 2: you God for food, to thank you God for who
Speaker 2: you are. That's taking your roots deeper. It honors God.
Speaker 2: Develop the attitude of gratitude. Doctors have shown in many
Speaker 2: many reports that gratitude is the healthiest human emotion. That
Speaker 2: the more grateful you are in life, the healthier will
Speaker 2: be actually physically, it's good for your physical health. The
Speaker 2: more ungrateful you are in life, the more it actually
Speaker 2: affects your health. Gratitude is good for your health. It's
Speaker 2: good for your heart. And if you say, God, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to put my feet on the ground in
Speaker 2: the morning, I'm gonna sit on the edge of my
Speaker 2: bed and before I do anything else, I'm gonna stop
Speaker 2: say thank you. And I would say, just start this week.
Speaker 2: Every day, sit on the side of your bed and
Speaker 2: think of ten things to thank God for before you
Speaker 2: get out of bed. It'll change your attitude. It'll change
Speaker 2: your day. The first five minutes of your day sets
Speaker 2: your mood for the rest of the day. And if
Speaker 2: you start it with gratitude, you'll be healthier, you'll be happier,
Speaker 2: you'll be closer to God. Your deep roots will be
Speaker 2: going deeper. He just start saying, God, let me just
Speaker 2: think of who you are, what you've done, how much
Speaker 2: you've done for me. And I make a list and
Speaker 2: I think of ten things, and I think of ten
Speaker 2: more things.
Speaker 3: Give thanks. It honors God.
Speaker 2: The second thing it does is why is God's gratitude
Speaker 2: God's will? Because it creates fellowship. It creates fellowship. What
Speaker 2: I mean by that it builds relationships. Gratitude always builds
Speaker 2: deeper relationships between you and other people, not just between
Speaker 2: you and God, but between you and other people. Now, listen,
Speaker 2: whoever you want to get closer to, start expressing gratitude
Speaker 2: to that person, and you'll get closer. If you've started
Speaker 2: moving away from your husband or your wife, you know
Speaker 2: what you need to do. You need to start doing
Speaker 2: what you did during dating. Express gratitude. Start writing little
Speaker 2: kind notes, making calls during the day, do the things
Speaker 2: you did at first. The reason you've lost that love
Speaker 2: and feeling is because you've stopped doing the things that
Speaker 2: created that love and feeling early on. And you take
Speaker 2: each other for granted, and you want to rebuild that
Speaker 2: relationship with a friend, with a parent, with a spouse,
Speaker 2: with people in your small group, whoever you want to
Speaker 2: get closer to start spending more time expressing gratitude to them.
Speaker 2: You want to build your small group. Don't just go
Speaker 2: to a small group during the week. Text them, email them,
Speaker 2: call them, write them. See you know, I'm grateful for you,
Speaker 2: and here's why I'm grateful. And you'll find that the
Speaker 2: more grateful you are for your group, the more your group.
Speaker 3: Will coalesce together.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this, encourage one another and build each
Speaker 2: other up. So I will encourage you to be more
Speaker 2: intentional in expressing gratitude to the people in your small
Speaker 2: group this week. Write some notes, you know, send some
Speaker 2: text or emails, and just tell people how grateful you are.
Speaker 3: It brings you closer together. Number three.
Speaker 2: The third reason why it's God's will for you to
Speaker 2: be radically grateful is it develops faith. It develops my faith. Now,
Speaker 2: how does gratitude develop my faith? Well, it happens when
Speaker 2: times are tough, when things don't make sense, when you
Speaker 2: can't figure it out, when your prayers are unanswered, when
Speaker 2: everything is going the way you didn't want it to go,
Speaker 2: and yet you thank God in that circumstances. God, I
Speaker 2: know You're in control. I know you love me, and
Speaker 2: I know you can bring good out of this, and
Speaker 2: I'm just thanking you. I'm not thankful for this situation.
Speaker 2: I just got fired, but I'm thankful in the situation
Speaker 2: that you're bigger than my problem and you can turn
Speaker 2: off one faucet and turn on another just as easily,
Speaker 2: and I'm thanking you for that. That is an evidence
Speaker 2: of trust. And when you learn anybody can thank God
Speaker 2: for good things, but if you can thank God even
Speaker 2: in the bad things, your faith grows and your roots
Speaker 2: go deeper.
Speaker 3: It's also an evidence of humility.
Speaker 2: You see when you thank God in a situation you
Speaker 2: don't understand, you're saying God, I don't understand this, but
Speaker 2: I'm humble enough to know I'm.
Speaker 3: Not God and you are.
Speaker 2: And I trust you, and I'm humble enough to admit
Speaker 2: it that you know what's best for me. Now, there's
Speaker 2: a guy in the Bible named Hubakuk, and I always
Speaker 2: like to bring these guys from the little books the
Speaker 2: Old Testament end because one day you're going to get
Speaker 2: to heaven and the back is going to come up
Speaker 2: to you and say, hey, how'd you like my book?
Speaker 2: And I don't want you to look like a dude.
Speaker 2: It's like, oh, oh, mister Becker guy didn't even know
Speaker 2: you were in the Bible, So I want to make
Speaker 2: sure you.
Speaker 3: Know who these guys are. So you need to get
Speaker 3: to heaven.
Speaker 2: You're not embarrassed, and you could say, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: I really liked what you said in chapter three, abacky,
Speaker 2: that was good.
Speaker 3: That was really good. Okay.
Speaker 2: And here's what a backack said. He was going through
Speaker 2: tough times. And he says, you know, even though the
Speaker 2: fig trees have no fruit, and no grapes are growing
Speaker 2: on the vine, and even though the olive crop failed,
Speaker 2: and even though the fields produced no grain. In other words,
Speaker 2: I'm going through recession. My business is in the tank.
Speaker 2: And even though the sheep are all dying and the
Speaker 2: cattle stalls are empty. In other words, he said, my
Speaker 2: portfolio has hit the skids. My four oh one K
Speaker 2: has become a one oh one k. He goes, even
Speaker 2: though all this is happening, I will still, I will still,
Speaker 2: I will still be.
Speaker 3: Joyful and glad.
Speaker 2: Why now, he's not thanking God for all the bad
Speaker 2: things that have gone wrong, not for those things. He's saying,
Speaker 2: what's his cause of gratitude? I will be joyful and
Speaker 2: glad because here's the cause. The Lord is my savior.
Speaker 2: Everything else thinks in life. But I can be grateful
Speaker 2: because the Lord is my savior. He will pull me out,
Speaker 2: He'll bring me through this, He'll help me out. I'm
Speaker 2: not on my own. I'm not by myself. He hadn't
Speaker 2: left me abandoned. I'm not an orphan, He's saying, I
Speaker 2: will still give thanks to God. That is the ultimate
Speaker 2: test of faith. Can you thank God when life stinks.
Speaker 2: That's the test of whether you're a shallow Christian or
Speaker 2: a deep one, whether you've got spiritual roots or you're
Speaker 2: just superficial. Can you think God God even when life stinks,
Speaker 2: when everything's going wrong, He says, if I'm going through
Speaker 2: tough times, what I need to do is not look
Speaker 2: at what's lost. I need to look at what's left.
Speaker 2: I need to look at what's left, and I need
Speaker 2: to be grateful for that. And no matter how bad
Speaker 2: things are in my life, there's always always thousands of
Speaker 2: things I can be grateful for. And no matter how
Speaker 2: bad things are in my life, there's always always the
Speaker 2: fact that I can be thankful to God just for
Speaker 2: being God, and that he has promised to see me
Speaker 2: through these situations, to help me out, to strengthen me,
Speaker 2: to care for me, to do miracles, to answer prayers.
Speaker 2: He's always promised, even when things don't go my way,
Speaker 2: that he can work it for good in my life.
Speaker 3: And so ultimately the plan is in action. That is faith.
Speaker 2: God's will is gradical gratitude in all things, give things why.
Speaker 2: It honors God, It creates fellowship, It develops faith Number.
Speaker 3: Four, It serves others.
Speaker 2: Radical gratitude, the attitude of gratitude that says, I'm just
Speaker 2: going to walk through life being grateful in every situation,
Speaker 2: no matter what, times of plenty, times of tightness, good, bad, right, wrong, whatever,
Speaker 2: I'm just going to be grateful in every situation. He says,
Speaker 2: that actually serves others. It becomes a ministry. Did you
Speaker 2: know we've talked about this many times that every Christian,
Speaker 2: every believer, is a minister. You are a minister, you
Speaker 2: have a ministry. You're not a pastor, but every Christian
Speaker 2: is a minister. What does that mean? It means we
Speaker 2: are to serve other people. We're saved to serve, and
Speaker 2: you can have a ministry called the ministry of appreciation.
Speaker 2: Do you know what the word appreciation means. Well, if
Speaker 2: you've ever bought a car, you know the meaning of depreciation. Okay,
Speaker 2: the moment you drive it off the lot, it's worth
Speaker 2: less than you paid for it. Even if it's brand new,
Speaker 2: you take it back, it's worthless. Depreciation it means to
Speaker 2: decrease in value. If you've ever bought a house, you
Speaker 2: know the meaning of both appreciation and depreciation. You've see
Speaker 2: the value go up, and you have seen the value
Speaker 2: go down. To appreciate means to raise in value. And
Speaker 2: this is a ministry. When you appreciate your husband, you
Speaker 2: raise his value. When you appreciate your wife, you raise
Speaker 2: her value. When you appreciate your kids, you raise their value.
Speaker 2: When you appreciate your coworkers, your staff, the people you
Speaker 2: work with in the office, you raise their value to
Speaker 2: you and to the company. When you appreciate your boss,
Speaker 2: you raise her value or his value. The ministry of
Speaker 2: appreciation raises the value of people. And that's why God
Speaker 2: says radical gratitude is a ministry. He and just go
Speaker 2: around making a ministry out of raising the value of
Speaker 2: people simply by appreciating them, going around, and you know
Speaker 2: One of the things I've discovered is that everybody in
Speaker 2: life needs massive doses of encouragement. I've never met anybody says,
Speaker 2: oh no, I don't need a compliment. I have too many.
Speaker 2: Please stop, please really, please, please stop. I'm too affirmed.
Speaker 3: Please don't don't give me anymore.
Speaker 2: You have an unqualified need to be affirmed, to be loved,
Speaker 2: to be appreciated to people express gratitude for and you can,
Speaker 2: and so does everybody else. And if you want to
Speaker 2: be used of God, here's a little secret. Affirm everybody.
Speaker 2: Appreciate everybody, show gratitude to everybody. You know, the team
Speaker 2: that I travel with that we have a little pack
Speaker 2: that we're just going to leave a trail of gratitude
Speaker 2: wherever we go in the world, and we're going to
Speaker 2: express appreciation to the people that everybody else ignores. And
Speaker 2: so we make it a little game. We make sure
Speaker 2: that the maid services who are fixing the sheets in
Speaker 2: the in the motel, or the taxi driver or the
Speaker 2: bellman or the clerk or the ticket agent, that we
Speaker 2: express appreciation to them in the middle of their busy day.
Speaker 2: That we're not going to have contact with any person
Speaker 2: on the road without saying thank you. And I'm pretty
Speaker 2: good at it. But Steve, he is a pro. He's
Speaker 2: almost embarrassingly good at it, you know. I mean, he's
Speaker 2: just he is so good at expressing appreciation to people.
Speaker 2: I'm in awe of the guy how he does it
Speaker 2: on the phone and stuff like that. And I'm just
Speaker 2: and I have to be honest with you that we
Speaker 2: have actually missed planes because we were still busy thanking people.
Speaker 2: The nice thing about it is the people we think
Speaker 2: then help us get on the next plane.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I was gone for two weeks. I was a week
Speaker 2: in Africa and in Europe, then a week in Europe,
Speaker 2: and one day we were on one day I was
Speaker 2: speaking to pastors and we had breakfast in Brussels and
Speaker 2: lunch in Paris and dinner in Vienna and all in
Speaker 2: the same day. And I'm speaking to these groups of
Speaker 2: pastors and We're just leaving a little trail of people
Speaker 2: everywhere we go. It was so funny because in Vienna
Speaker 2: I was sitting in a taxi and an elderly lady,
Speaker 2: seventy nine year old woman, seventy nine year old woman
Speaker 2: and her husband coming knock on the window.
Speaker 3: I roll the window down.
Speaker 2: She goes, I'm a fan friend of yours on Facebook.
Speaker 2: I said, tell me your story. She says, well, I'm Romanian.
Speaker 2: I'm going now wait a minute, a Romanian eighty nine
Speaker 2: year old woman in Paris watching me on Facebook. It's
Speaker 2: a new world, friends, we got a radical change here.
Speaker 3: This is a radical and so it.
Speaker 2: Helps other people. In fact, the Bible says this, do
Speaker 2: not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth.
Speaker 2: In other words, that's critical, complaining, negative, cynical, sarcastic, always
Speaker 2: putting other people down. Don't let that kind of stuff
Speaker 2: come out.
Speaker 3: Of your mouth.
Speaker 2: But only the only thing that should come out of
Speaker 2: your mouth is what is helpful for building others up.
Speaker 2: He says, you tell you need to talk, not what
Speaker 2: builds you up, but what builds others up according to
Speaker 2: their needs. That it may benefit not you, but those
Speaker 2: who listen. That's called the ministry of affirmation. So why
Speaker 2: is gratitude radical? Gratitude in every situation always God's will.
Speaker 2: It honors God, It creates fellowship, It brings you closer
Speaker 2: to people. It develops faith, particularly shows your trust in
Speaker 2: God in tough times. It serves other people and then
Speaker 2: there's a fifth one.
Speaker 3: It is a witness.
Speaker 2: It is a witness to unbelievers. The best way to
Speaker 2: share your faith with other people is a start with gratitude.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm grateful for about you? That'll blow
Speaker 3: their mind. Wow.
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