Speaker 2: Hello, everybody.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. I'm
Speaker 1: really glad you're here today. We're continuing our series from
Speaker 1: Psalm twenty three called living in the Goodness of God.
Speaker 1: It's all about how God's goodness meets you right where
Speaker 1: you are and brings hope even in difficult seasons. So
Speaker 1: let's get started. Here's the final part of a message
Speaker 1: called how God lifts me up when I'm worn down.
Speaker 2: Here's the second thing. The banquet means, write this down.
Speaker 2: God wants to bless me to show the world his goodness.
Speaker 2: God wants to bless me so he can show the
Speaker 2: world his goodness. You are a trophy of God's grace.
Speaker 2: I am a trophy of God's grace. I don't deserve
Speaker 2: the blessing on my life, but I don't deserve anything.
Speaker 2: It's all by God's grace. You don't deserve this banquet,
Speaker 2: but God says, I just want to do it because
Speaker 2: I love you. You are exhibit a of God's grace.
Speaker 2: You are God's goodness on display. Look at this next
Speaker 2: verse Psalm thirty one, verse nineteen. Your goodness is so great.
Speaker 2: Remember we'd studying the goodness of God. Your goodness is
Speaker 2: so great. You have stored up great blessings for those
Speaker 2: who honor you. And you have done so much for
Speaker 2: those who come to you for protection when you're in
Speaker 2: the middle of a battle, blessing them before the watching world,
Speaker 2: in the presence of mine enemies. God says, I want
Speaker 2: to bless your life so all the people can look
Speaker 2: at you go Wow, that girl is blessed, that guy
Speaker 2: is blessed. I want that. How do are they blessed
Speaker 2: so much? How are they blessed them? Well, they have
Speaker 2: a good God. They know God, And he says, those
Speaker 2: who honor me, He says, I have stored up great
Speaker 2: blessings for those who honor me. Now I want you
Speaker 2: to circle those two words. Stored up, It says God
Speaker 2: has stored up great blessings for those who honor you.
Speaker 2: Stored up indicates advance planning. It means that God plans
Speaker 2: what He's going to do for you before it actually
Speaker 2: happens in your life. It's stored up. It's planning to dance.
Speaker 2: It's not just spur of the moment. You know, I
Speaker 2: just thought it up right now. God prepares a banquet,
Speaker 2: prepares in advance a banquet for you in the presence
Speaker 2: of your enemy when you're in the battle. Okay, let's
Speaker 2: apply this right now. You know that battle you're going
Speaker 2: through right now, the tough when you're going through right now,
Speaker 2: and it's a white knuckle, you know, bare bare hands
Speaker 2: thing you're holding on. I'm not going to roller coaster
Speaker 2: for dear life. And you don't know if you're going
Speaker 2: to win this battle or not. Financial battle, physical battle,
Speaker 2: relational battle, dignity battle, moral battle, whatever the conflict's going
Speaker 2: on in your life. Those jaws are distress. You know
Speaker 2: that battle. God says, I prepare a banquet for you
Speaker 2: in the presence of your enemies. He had stored up
Speaker 2: the blessing. It means that battle you're fighting right now,
Speaker 2: which is very intense, before it even started, before you
Speaker 2: even got in that battle, God had already prepared the
Speaker 2: victory celebration. God has already prepared the banquet. God has
Speaker 2: already prepared the celebration party for the problem you're in
Speaker 2: right now. Because he knows everything, he knows how it's
Speaker 2: going to come out. You store up in advance great
Speaker 2: blessings for those who you Just keep honoring God with
Speaker 2: your life. With your body, with your business. You keep
Speaker 2: honoring God with the way you think, with the way
Speaker 2: you act, with the way you talk, And even though
Speaker 2: everybody's coming against you, you just keep honoring God. God
Speaker 2: because I already got the banquet planned. It's already stored up,
Speaker 2: because you're going to get through this with My help.
Speaker 2: God loves to throw victory celebrations for his children Psalm
Speaker 2: thirty five. Look here on the screen, verse twenty seven,
Speaker 2: How great is the Lord. He is pleased with the
Speaker 2: success of his servant. I love that verse. How great
Speaker 2: is the Lord? He is pleased with the success of
Speaker 2: his servant. God loves to honor you, and he is
Speaker 2: pleased with the success when you succeed of your When
Speaker 2: you are a servant, God has put all promises in
Speaker 2: the Word of God about it. If you're in the
Speaker 2: middle of a battle right now of any kind, you
Speaker 2: need to realize that God has prepared to bank for
Speaker 2: you on the battlefield just a few hundred yards away,
Speaker 2: and you've got to walk over there, walk into the tent,
Speaker 2: sit down and have some fellowship with God and eat
Speaker 2: your favorite foods. That's what God wants to do in
Speaker 2: your life. So my last question, then, is what's on
Speaker 2: the menu. What's on the menu of God's banquet. I
Speaker 2: want you to write this down. Everything God has promised
Speaker 2: in his word is on the menu. Everything that God
Speaker 2: has promised in his word is on the menu. The
Speaker 2: menu are the promises of God in his word. Now
Speaker 2: by many counts, one estimate is that they are about
Speaker 2: five thousand, five hundred promises in this book from God
Speaker 2: to you. Have you eaten any of them? Have you
Speaker 2: eaten any of the five thousand plus five hundred promises
Speaker 2: of God to you? The banquet is sitting right there.
Speaker 2: Your banquet is in your Bible. Everything God has promised
Speaker 2: to do your life is in this book. If you're
Speaker 2: not reading this book, you don't know squat about what's
Speaker 2: on the menu. All of those five thousand, five hundred
Speaker 2: promises are there. This book is full of fruit and
Speaker 2: bread and all kinds of meat and milk, and drinks
Speaker 2: and wine and sweets and lots and lots of desserts.
Speaker 2: God calls the Bible the Word of God. It calls
Speaker 2: it the bread of life. Man shall not live by
Speaker 2: bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of
Speaker 2: the mouth of God. The Bible calls itself the meat
Speaker 2: of the word, the you've read of the word, the
Speaker 2: milk of the word. The Bible says it tastes sweeter
Speaker 2: than honey. The Bible says it is fruit. The Bible
Speaker 2: says it is fulfilling. The Bible says it is tasty,
Speaker 2: and over and over and over all of those terms,
Speaker 2: banquet terms describe the Bible itself. And you can have
Speaker 2: a feast anywhere. You've got one of these. You me
Speaker 2: sitting in a bus stop and pull out a Bible
Speaker 2: and start having a feast right there of all the
Speaker 2: things God has promised to do in your life. And
Speaker 2: your anger goes down, and your fear goes down, and
Speaker 2: your anxiety goes down. The reason why your anxiety is
Speaker 2: up is because you're not in this book. You don't
Speaker 2: know what God's promised to do in this book. Now,
Speaker 2: if God has provided a feast, a banquet in this book,
Speaker 2: why would you ever go eat internet granola bar when
Speaker 2: there's a feast laid out for you And you're reading
Speaker 2: a newspaper more than you read this. You're reading magazines
Speaker 2: more than this, you're reading social media far more than this,
Speaker 2: and that's starving you while this would be feeding you
Speaker 2: what God has laid out and promised you. The Bible
Speaker 2: says this and Psalm one five excuse me one nineteen
Speaker 2: verse one oh three. The promises of your word taste
Speaker 2: sweet to me. They taste sweeter than honey in my mouth.
Speaker 2: You got a bad taste in your mouth. How much
Speaker 2: time are you spending in this book? If you're not
Speaker 2: spending any time in his mouth, You've got nothing in
Speaker 2: your mouth but gravel. This is the feeding. Are you
Speaker 2: fasting or are you feasting on the word of God?
Speaker 2: Are you fasting or are you feasting on God's banquet
Speaker 2: that He's laid out for you? All the stuff He's
Speaker 2: promised to do in your life, You can't do them
Speaker 2: if you don't know them. God knows what ever, shuts
Speaker 2: his blessings until you shut this book. When you open
Speaker 2: this book every day, you need to be feeding and
Speaker 2: eating from it from the banquet of God. Now, how
Speaker 2: much time are you really spinning in this book? Not
Speaker 2: very much? So well, I go to church once a week.
Speaker 2: How would you do if you ate one meal a week?
Speaker 2: I'm feeding you the word of God right now. But
Speaker 2: if you ate one meal a week and it was
Speaker 2: a banquet and then you fasted the rest, you'd be erexic,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't be very healthy. This is not what I'm
Speaker 2: teaching you. Is not enough. You got to feed and
Speaker 2: feast on the Word of God every day. This is
Speaker 2: where you get your strength for the battle. And if
Speaker 2: you're not getting your strength from the battle from this book,
Speaker 2: you are failing in your battle because you don't simply
Speaker 2: have enough strength on your own to face all the
Speaker 2: crisis you're going to hand. I'm telling you, as your
Speaker 2: pastor who loves you, You've got to get in this
Speaker 2: book every single day of your life. It's the banquet.
Speaker 2: And if you don't have it, then you're you're not growing,
Speaker 2: you're not being healthy, You're not being strengthened for the battle.
Speaker 2: What you need to do is go get a modern translation.
Speaker 2: Don't get read one of those books with the Vise
Speaker 2: and then Ow's and the Elizabethan English. There are tons
Speaker 2: of modern translations. You go, oh, that's what that means.
Speaker 2: And then go take Class two oh one again, which
Speaker 2: I wrote, which teaches you how to have a daily
Speaker 2: feast with God. You've been through that class, you've forgotten
Speaker 2: what it's all about go take it again. Take class
Speaker 2: two O one again, so you can learn how to
Speaker 2: feast on the word of God. Psalm thirty four, verse
Speaker 2: eight says this, learn to savor how good the Lord is.
Speaker 2: Do you do that when you read the Bible? Do
Speaker 2: you savor the word of God? He said, no, no,
Speaker 2: I don't. I just kind of do it as I
Speaker 2: ought to do it. Okay, listen very closely. Your view
Speaker 2: of this book, what you think it is, will determine
Speaker 2: how much you enjoy it. Okay, how much you enjoy it.
Speaker 2: If you think that this is a textbook, like this
Speaker 2: is God's textbook for us, does anybody ever enjoy reading
Speaker 2: a textbook? No? I hate reading textbooks. And if you
Speaker 2: think that this is a textbook, you're gonna go. I
Speaker 2: don't want to read that anymore. I want to do
Speaker 2: any other homework. It's not a textbook. If you think
Speaker 2: it's a history book, well you know it's got some
Speaker 2: great stories in there, history of Israel and history of
Speaker 2: Jesus and all that history. Do you enjoy reading a
Speaker 2: history book. Not many people do. It's not a history book.
Speaker 2: If you think this is an insurance policy, it's your
Speaker 2: fire insurance policy. See keep you out of hell. Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: either this is my fire insurance policy, I better read
Speaker 2: that or or this. If you think the Bible is
Speaker 2: a love life insurance policy, how you get eternal life?
Speaker 2: How you get to heaven? Have you ever read an
Speaker 2: insurance policy? No? You have not? What because they're boring
Speaker 2: and dry as all get out. Any yeah, yeah, just
Speaker 2: show me where to sign. So, if it's a textbook,
Speaker 2: if it's a history book, if it's an insurance policy,
Speaker 2: whether it's for hell or heaven or whatever, you're not
Speaker 2: gonna read it. You know what this book is. This
Speaker 2: book is God's love letter to you. It's a love letter.
Speaker 2: His banner over me is love. When Kay and I
Speaker 2: got engaged many many years ago, we did something really done.
Speaker 2: We got engaged and both moved the opposite sides of
Speaker 2: the world. We lived in California. She moved to Birmingham,
Speaker 2: Alabama to work in an inner city African American church,
Speaker 2: and I moved to Nagasaki, Japan to plant a church.
Speaker 2: And we were separated almost our entire engagement. Now, in
Speaker 2: those days, we didn't have cell phones, and it cost
Speaker 2: fifteen bucks a minute on a regular phone to call Japan.
Speaker 2: In those days, it's very expensive. We were dirt poor,
Speaker 2: so we only had one alternative, write letters. I wrote
Speaker 2: a letter every day. She wrote a letter every day,
Speaker 2: and the way would stack up. I'd get her letter
Speaker 2: before she got my response to the next letter, and
Speaker 2: my letter was talking about something, she didn't get it
Speaker 2: until the next one in it. Were always having out
Speaker 2: of sync because of the letters. But that was the
Speaker 2: highlight of my day when I lived in Japan. When
Speaker 2: I got a love letter. You think somebody said, hey, Rick,
Speaker 2: you got another letter from k I thought, well, put
Speaker 2: it there, I'll read it in a couple of days.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? The moment that love letter, right,
Speaker 2: I would tear it open and i would read it,
Speaker 2: and i would reread it, and I'd try to read
Speaker 2: between the lines, and i'd underline it, and I'd want
Speaker 2: to memorize portions of it, and I'm going, I'm trying
Speaker 2: to gather every drop of love from this woman for
Speaker 2: me out of this letter. And I'd read it and
Speaker 2: reread it and reread it. This is God's love letter
Speaker 2: to you. This is not a book. The Bible is
Speaker 2: not for everybody. The Bible is written for God's children.
Speaker 2: And that's why when somebody who doesn't believe in God
Speaker 2: tries to read that and making sense, Well, that's what
Speaker 2: you get for reading somebody else's mail. Okay, okay, it
Speaker 2: wasn't written for you. This is God's love letter to
Speaker 2: his children. If you only do one thing, you start
Speaker 2: reading the Bible every single day. I'll tell you what's
Speaker 2: Start with the Book of Luke this week. Start with
Speaker 2: the Book of Luke. It just tell us about Jesus.
Speaker 2: They start reading through that your view. If you're not
Speaker 2: in this book every day, you are forgetting how much
Speaker 2: God loves you, and you're forgetting what's on the banquet table.
Speaker 2: As a result, you're stressed out because you think it
Speaker 2: all depends on you. You don't know what's covered in
Speaker 2: the policy. You don't know what God's already promised to do.
Speaker 2: The banquet is in the Bible. Now, one more thing.
Speaker 2: This promise you prepare for me a banquet and the
Speaker 2: presence of my enemies is both now and later verse
Speaker 2: in the Bible. Because right now, while you're in the battle,
Speaker 2: you can have a banquet. Any day. You open this
Speaker 2: book and it'll give you strength for the enemies in
Speaker 2: your life. But there's one day going to be a
Speaker 2: literal banquet for you in heaven. It's called the marriage
Speaker 2: Supper of the Lamb. And let me read it to you.
Speaker 2: Isaiah chapter twenty five says this, here's how it's going
Speaker 2: to happen. One day history is moving toward a climax
Speaker 2: in heaven. And one day there's going to be a
Speaker 2: party in heaven, a giant banquet for all of God's
Speaker 2: people who honored him and trusted him. And it says
Speaker 2: this Isaiah twenty five six to nine. The Lord Almighty
Speaker 2: will prepare a feast of the finest food for all peoples. Now,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter what your background is, doesn't matter what color
Speaker 2: your skin is, doesn't matter what race your cultural background,
Speaker 2: doesn't matter what religion you are. If you have put
Speaker 2: your faith in His son, if you have trusted God,
Speaker 2: if God has accepted you in this family. He said,
Speaker 2: this is for everybody, no matter what your background is.
Speaker 2: The Lord will prepare a feast the finest food for
Speaker 2: all people, a banquet of the best of meats and
Speaker 2: finest wines. And on this mountain God will destroy the
Speaker 2: shroud that enfolds all peoples, and the sheet that covers
Speaker 2: all nations. What's a shroud and what's a sheet? A shroud?
Speaker 2: A shroud literally is what they put over dead people.
Speaker 2: It's a covering. You would they would like a mummy,
Speaker 2: they would wrap a dead body in a shroud. It's
Speaker 2: a covering of death. And the shroud that this stigma
Speaker 2: is the gloom that's spread all over the earth because
Speaker 2: we all know we're all going to die. We're all
Speaker 2: going to die, and that is that that brings our
Speaker 2: attitude and we're not gonna live forever on earth. And
Speaker 2: that's the gloom that hangs over everybody. Everybody knows they're
Speaker 2: going to die. One day, God says he's going to
Speaker 2: destroy that shroud of death and that enfolds people. And
Speaker 2: the sheets that cover all nations. What's the sheets? That's
Speaker 2: the crowd of grief that we're all under because things
Speaker 2: don't work right, everything's broken on this planet. God says,
Speaker 2: one day at this banquet, I'm going to destroy that
Speaker 2: last enemy. I told you had the enemy of the world,
Speaker 2: the flashing devil, But you have a fourth enemy. The
Speaker 2: Bible calls the fourth enemy death, and the Bible says
Speaker 2: in scripture death is the last enemy. To be defeated,
Speaker 2: and it would be defeated on this day, and there
Speaker 2: will be no more death. The Bible says this, he
Speaker 2: will swallow up death forever, no more death. Nobody dies
Speaker 2: after this. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
Speaker 2: from all faces, and he will remove the disgrace of
Speaker 2: his people from all the earth. What's that talking about
Speaker 2: the disgrace of his people? Is all the putdowns you've
Speaker 2: had for being a believer, When people have put you
Speaker 2: down for standing for truth, when people have put you
Speaker 2: down for doing the right thing, when people have put
Speaker 2: you down for claiming to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: That's the disgrace. He said, He's going to remove all
Speaker 2: the disgrace of his people. Why by having a banquet
Speaker 2: in front of all the enemies. He said, I love
Speaker 2: these people. They put up with all kinds of stuff
Speaker 2: at the office and work and a home, but they
Speaker 2: loved me more than they loved you. And he says
Speaker 2: he will wipe away their tears. He'll remove the disgrace
Speaker 2: of people from all the earth. And in that day
Speaker 2: they that's us. We'll say, surely this is our God.
Speaker 2: We trusted him and he saved us. Yes, this is
Speaker 2: the Lord we trusted in him. So let us rejoice
Speaker 2: and be glad in his salvation, and the eternal party
Speaker 2: will begin. That's power. Heads. Have you met Jesus? Have
Speaker 2: you accepted his salvation? Or are you still trying to
Speaker 2: fight all your battles on your own power? How's that
Speaker 2: going for you? How's that working out? A little frustrating?
Speaker 2: God has planned a party for you, if you'll just
Speaker 2: trust him. He's planned a banquet in the middle of
Speaker 2: your battle. No matter what it is. I'm going to
Speaker 2: pray as very simple pri and I invite you to
Speaker 2: pray it again with me, maybe for the five thousandth time.
Speaker 2: Some of you it'll be for the very first time.
Speaker 2: Just say this, Thank you God, Thank you for your
Speaker 2: goodness to me, even the stuff I don't recognize and
Speaker 2: don't even notice. Thank you that, even in the middle
Speaker 2: of all my battles, you want to give me a banquet.
Speaker 2: You want to make me the guest of honor. It's
Speaker 2: not in secret, it's public. It's on the battlefield, and
Speaker 2: even my enemies have to watch you honor me, and
Speaker 2: they can't do anything about it. Lord, I'm not doing
Speaker 2: too good in my battles. Right now, the world's around
Speaker 2: me with all of the pressure and stress expectations, and
Speaker 2: Satan's against me, and he's always suggesting me to do
Speaker 2: the wrong things, trying to trip me up. And then
Speaker 2: my old nature inside of me is at war with myself.
Speaker 2: And you know, Lord, alf and do stuff that I
Speaker 2: don't really want to do, and I don't do the
Speaker 2: things that I know are good and help thee and right,
Speaker 2: and I'm tired in the battle. Thank you that you
Speaker 2: want me, and thank you that you welcome me into fellowship. Lord.
Speaker 2: It's hard to believe that you God would want to
Speaker 2: hang out with me, that you would love me that much,
Speaker 2: that you'd go to all expensive preparing a banquet for
Speaker 2: me when I run for cover to you. Lord. I
Speaker 2: read that verse today that said, you're gently calling me
Speaker 2: from the jaws of distress. I'm coming. I'm coming right now.
Speaker 2: I'm running straight to you, Lord, to that open place
Speaker 2: of freedom where you've set a table full of the
Speaker 2: very best food. Thank you for loving me, and Lord,
Speaker 2: thank you for wanting to bless me, to show the
Speaker 2: world your goodness. You've already done so much for me.
Speaker 2: The air I breathe is a gift that you want
Speaker 2: to bless me before the watching world, and I want
Speaker 2: to be blessable. I want to put my trust in you,
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. I don't understand it all. Forgive me for
Speaker 2: going days without looking at your word the Bible. Everything
Speaker 2: you promised is there. The banquet is in the Bible.
Speaker 2: And I want to commit to not going to bed
Speaker 2: at night without feasting a little bit on the banquet,
Speaker 2: all those five thousand, five hundred promises that you've made.
Speaker 2: And so I'm stepping out of the battle right now.
Speaker 2: I'm walking into your tent and in the one on
Speaker 2: one fellowship. I want to receive your love and I
Speaker 2: want to learn to love you back. I humbly ask
Speaker 2: you to accept me into your family. In your name,
Speaker 2: I pray Amen. You know if you just prayed that
Speaker 2: prayer for the very first time, or you just recommitted
Speaker 2: your life to Jesus again today, would you let me
Speaker 2: know about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment.
Speaker 2: So write me Rick at pastor Rick 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: I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after
Speaker 1: that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a
Speaker 1: letter from one of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Here's Rick. You know I love hearing from Daily Hope
Speaker 2: listeners like you. And here's one note that I got
Speaker 2: from Raymond in New York. Your pastor, Rick, I'd like
Speaker 2: you to know how much I appreciate the Daily Hope broadcast.
Speaker 2: The nuggets that I get I share with my lunch
Speaker 2: group at work, and my family benefits as well because
Speaker 2: at dinner time, my wife and my son hear the
Speaker 2: nugget that I learned during the day and we discuss it.
Speaker 2: It's awesome. Well, let me just say this, Raymond, thanks
Speaker 2: for writing me, and thanks for sharing your story. You
Speaker 2: encouraged me just now. I'm happy to hear that you're
Speaker 2: sharing Daily Hope with your co workers and with your family.
Speaker 2: If God has used this broadcast in your life, would
Speaker 2: you let me know about it and tell your story.
Speaker 2: It'll be good for you, it'll be good for me,
Speaker 2: and it'll be good for all the others who hear it.
Speaker 2: I love you and I thank God for you, and
Speaker 2: join me next time as we continue to look into
Speaker 2: God's word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: Now, if you'd like to let Rick know how much
Speaker 1: this broadcast has blessed you, please feel free to send
Speaker 1: him an email. He loves it. Send it to Rick
Speaker 1: at pastorrick dot com. That's Rick at pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 1: into God's.
Speaker 2: Word for our daily hope.
Speaker 1: This program is sponsored by Daily Hope Ministries and your
Speaker 1: generous financial support