Speaker 1: Hello, and thanks for joining us here on Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry of Pastor Rick Warren. Today,
Speaker 1: Rick continues teaching a series called Connecting with God the
Speaker 1: Lord's Prayer. In these lessons, Rick shows you what it
Speaker 1: means to truly be spiritually connected to God and to
Speaker 1: each other through the power of God's love and God's Word.
Speaker 1: In a moment, we're going to tell you how to
Speaker 1: get the Daily Hope Advent Calendar. This special resource will
Speaker 1: help you experience all that Christmas promises. Go to Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com to find out more, or text the word
Speaker 1: Daily to eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four.
Speaker 1: That's Pastorick dot com. Or the word Daily to eight
Speaker 1: hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Here's Pastor Rick
Speaker 1: with the final part of a message called the Prayer
Speaker 1: of Cleansing our review.
Speaker 2: Every year, I repent of every sin. Here's a third step.
Speaker 2: I resolve to make restitution. If possible. You make restitution now.
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's not possible. They may have died, they may
Speaker 2: have moved away and you can't find him. They may
Speaker 2: have remarried and it would be not a good thing
Speaker 2: for you to reopen an old wound. And so in
Speaker 2: some situations you can't make restitution, but anything you can
Speaker 2: do to make it right, you do so. Number four,
Speaker 2: The fourth thing I do is now I receive God's forgiveness.
Speaker 2: The Bible says this. And by the way, you don't
Speaker 2: have to be hesitant or shy about coming to God
Speaker 2: for forgiveness. He says, Let us come boldly to the
Speaker 2: throne of our gracious God, and there we will find
Speaker 2: he said, not scolding, not punishment, not rejection.
Speaker 3: He says. When we come to God with.
Speaker 2: Our sin, we receive his mercy and we find his grace.
Speaker 2: What's the difference between mercy and grace. Mercy is forgiveness
Speaker 2: for all the things you've done in the past. Grace
Speaker 2: is the power to change in the future.
Speaker 3: And you need both.
Speaker 2: And God says, you come to me with honestly, with
Speaker 2: all your sin. And you say, God, this stinks, this
Speaker 2: looks bad. I'm embarrassed about It's the good, the bad,
Speaker 2: and the ugly in my life. God says, you will
Speaker 2: have mercy for your past and grace to change in
Speaker 2: your future. Now, let me tell you how not to
Speaker 2: get God's forgiveness. You don't beg. You don't bargain or
Speaker 2: bribe like I try to do. God, I'll never do
Speaker 2: it again, or I'll all live this kind of life,
Speaker 2: or I'll tie twenty percent. Or you don't bargain, You
Speaker 2: don't bribe, you don't beg.
Speaker 3: You just believe. What do you believe? You believe God's
Speaker 3: promise on the screen. Here's the promise.
Speaker 2: If we freely admit that we have sinned, that's if
Speaker 2: we confess our sins. We find God utterly reliable. He's
Speaker 2: not going to backtrack on this. He forgives our sin
Speaker 2: and makes us thoroughly clean. Wouldn't you like to be
Speaker 2: totally clean on the inside?
Speaker 3: How do you do it?
Speaker 2: You just confess. Confession is saying you're right God, it
Speaker 2: was wrong. You're right, I was wrong. That's confession to
Speaker 2: speak the same with God. The Bible says this up
Speaker 2: here on the screen. Since we are justified, that means acquitted,
Speaker 2: declared righteous through faith. Let us grasp the fact that
Speaker 2: we now have peace and reconciliation with God. Now before
Speaker 2: I get the end through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
Speaker 2: it says, since we are justified, we've talked about this
Speaker 2: word before.
Speaker 3: What does it mean to be justified?
Speaker 2: It means when God makes you just as if I'd
Speaker 2: never sinned. That's what it means to be justified. God says,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make you just as if I'd never sinned.
Speaker 2: I'm going to wipe the slate clean. I'm going to
Speaker 2: erase everything you've ever done wrong. I'm going to justify you,
Speaker 2: make you just as if I'd never sinned. And he
Speaker 2: says that comes not by you earning it, But just
Speaker 2: do faith in me, faith in my son Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: You say, Rick, you don't know what I've done, God
Speaker 2: could never forgive me. Well, you're wrong, I don't know
Speaker 2: what you've done, but it doesn't matter. In fact, the
Speaker 2: Bible says this on the screen. No matter how deep
Speaker 2: the stain of your sin, I could take it out,
Speaker 2: and I can make you clean as freshly fallen snow.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't you like to have a heart like that, that
Speaker 3: is clean as freshly fallen snow. When you have that,
Speaker 3: it doesn't mean you're perfect. It means you're forgiven.
Speaker 1: This is pastor Rick's daily hope. We're so glad you're
Speaker 1: with us today. Rick will be back in a moment.
Speaker 1: But first, recently, past mister Rick had our graphic designers
Speaker 1: create a beautiful frameable version of the Lord's Prayer that
Speaker 1: you can download for free right now by visiting Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Pastorick dot com fall.
Speaker 4: Us here now, and that means Christmas is right around
Speaker 4: the corner. That's why we want to let you know
Speaker 4: that Pastor Rick and his wife Kay created an advoic
Speaker 4: calendar with specially commissioned custom artwork.
Speaker 5: It's beautiful.
Speaker 4: This two part resource includes a calendar with a special
Speaker 4: door for every day of December that opens to reveal
Speaker 4: a hidden image and an encouraging Bible verse. Use it
Speaker 4: with a companion daily devotional booklet to help you and
Speaker 4: your family draw closer to Jesus and prepare your heart
Speaker 4: for the real celebration. The Daily Hope Admit Calendar will
Speaker 4: help you spend the holidays worshiping instead of worrying, slowing
Speaker 4: down and reconnecting with God and expressing gratitude for the
Speaker 4: true meaning of the season. You want to get the
Speaker 4: Daily Hope admin Calendar and devotional booklet in your hands
Speaker 4: now to start using it on December first. This resource
Speaker 4: is a perfect way to share the gift of Jesus
Speaker 4: at Christmas with your friends and family, and we'll send
Speaker 4: it to you to say thanks when you give a
Speaker 4: gift to Daily Hope to help take good news to
Speaker 4: people everywhere. Quantities are limited, so get yours now. Just
Speaker 4: call eight hundred six hundred five zero zero four, or
Speaker 4: go to Pastororrick dot com. That's eight hundred and six
Speaker 4: hundred at five zero zero four, or go to pastor
Speaker 4: Rick dot com. Thanks so very much.
Speaker 2: Hi everybody, it's Pastor Rick Warren with some really big news.
Speaker 2: My Daily Hope devotionals are now available in Portuguese. If
Speaker 2: you know somebody who would enjoy reading these devotionals in Portuguese,
Speaker 2: please email me and I'll send you the link to
Speaker 2: sign up. My email is Rick at Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 2: That's Rick at pastororik dot com.
Speaker 4: Now let's get back to more great teach with Castor Brickborne.
Speaker 2: Now you come to step five, and step five is
Speaker 2: the most difficult one. This is the real test of maturity.
Speaker 2: I reveal my faults to a friend. You don't have
Speaker 2: to reveal them to fifteen people, not the five people,
Speaker 2: not the three, not even the two, but you need
Speaker 2: one person that you come clean with. You said, Oh,
Speaker 2: come on, Rick, can I just be forgiven by confessing
Speaker 2: to God? Of course you can. Of course you can't.
Speaker 2: But here's the question, and I want you to get it.
Speaker 2: You need to ask yourself, do I want to be
Speaker 2: emotionally healed?
Speaker 3: Or do I just want to be forgiven?
Speaker 2: If all you want to do is be forgiven and
Speaker 2: you want to carry the weight and the pain and
Speaker 2: the resentment, are all of the pressure of it the
Speaker 2: rest of your life and have it come back and
Speaker 2: keep messing with your mind, Oh you needed is just
Speaker 2: confess it to God. God will forgive you. You don't have
Speaker 2: to tell anybody else. Just tell God and you'll forgive you.
Speaker 2: Keep on carrying it. God wired it that we only
Speaker 2: get well in community. Notice what the Bible says, confess
Speaker 2: your sins to each other and pray for each other.
Speaker 2: We're to confess and we're to pray for each other
Speaker 2: so that you maybe circle this healed. Revealing your feeling
Speaker 2: is the beginning of healing. So let me ask you again,
Speaker 2: do you want to be forgiven or do you want
Speaker 2: to be emotionally healed? If you just want to be forgiven.
Speaker 2: You just confess it to God. But if you want
Speaker 2: to get over this and get on with your life,
Speaker 2: you're gonna need to be healed and you need to
Speaker 2: tell somebody else. Say Rick, why why do we do this?
Speaker 2: Why does God want me to drag somebody else into this?
Speaker 2: I'll tell you why, because God knows that the root
Speaker 2: of your problem, listen is relational. Your relationship to God
Speaker 2: and you're messed up. Relationships to other people are the
Speaker 2: root of all your problems. And when we don't have
Speaker 2: one person in our lives that we are completely honest with,
Speaker 2: we wear masks and we pretend that we all have it,
Speaker 2: have it all together when everybody knows we don't, and
Speaker 2: we act like it's all right when it's not, and
Speaker 2: we deny our true feelings.
Speaker 3: What does that do? It isolates you from other.
Speaker 2: People when you're not authentic, when you're faking it, and
Speaker 2: it prevents intimacy, and it keeps you from the deepest
Speaker 2: level of love. You cannot love fully with guilt in
Speaker 2: your heart. And so what happens is we go around
Speaker 2: living with shame and living with insecurity. And they, if
Speaker 2: they really knew, they'd reject me. If they really knew,
Speaker 2: they wouldn't love me. If they really knew me and
Speaker 2: what I've done, they wouldn't accept me. And it keeps
Speaker 2: you caught. Would you write this down? I'm only as
Speaker 2: sick as my secrets. And the fact is the more
Speaker 2: you hide, the sicker you get. On the other hand,
Speaker 2: revealing your feeling is the beginning of healing. And it
Speaker 2: is amazing that when you find one person that you
Speaker 2: can trust and you say, I just need to get
Speaker 2: this off my chest. I don't need you to do anything,
Speaker 2: just listen to me, and you unveil it. You know
Speaker 2: what happens. You find that they got big problems too,
Speaker 2: and often they actually have the same problem you do.
Speaker 2: And there's something about telling another person that uncorks the
Speaker 2: pressure valve. When you let the boogeyman out of the closet,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, the boogeyman isn't so big anymore.
Speaker 2: And I say, do I broadcast this everybody? Of course not,
Speaker 2: of course not. Let me give you some guidelines. Who
Speaker 2: do you share this with? One person who is a
Speaker 2: mature believer. Then somebody who's a mature believer that you
Speaker 2: feel safe with. They're confidential, they can keep a confidence.
Speaker 2: They are mature enough to respond to you with God's
Speaker 2: love and forgiveness. They're not going to They're mature enough
Speaker 2: to not be shocked by anything. They're not gonna judge you.
Speaker 2: They're going to say to you, you are forgiven in
Speaker 2: Jesus' name. And there are plenty of people like that,
Speaker 2: maybe a trusted friend, maybe a small group, member of
Speaker 2: your small group, maybe a Christian counselor maybe somebody and
Speaker 2: celebrate recovery. It's absolutely important to be somebody the same sex.
Speaker 2: Men should confess to men and women should confess to women,
Speaker 2: because if a man confessed to a woman, it blow
Speaker 2: her away. Need I say more? And vice versa. So
Speaker 2: men confess to men and women ask to women, you say,
Speaker 2: well what do I say?
Speaker 3: Will you just say? You know what? You know?
Speaker 2: I need somebody to come clean with and I don't
Speaker 2: need you to fix me.
Speaker 3: I don't need you to give me an advice. I
Speaker 3: just need you to listen to me.
Speaker 2: While I do a little spring cleaning. I've already confessed
Speaker 2: this stuff to God and I just need to confess
Speaker 2: it to one other person. And what you do is
Speaker 2: you share here's what I've done here's how I feel
Speaker 2: about it, and here's where I want to change.
Speaker 3: That's it. Now.
Speaker 2: You know, if you actually shared this with a mature Christian,
Speaker 2: they would be honored to hear your confession.
Speaker 3: A truly mature.
Speaker 2: Believer is not going to be blown away by that.
Speaker 2: They're going to understand the importance of it. They've done
Speaker 2: it themselves likely and they would be They're not gonna
Speaker 2: be blown away.
Speaker 3: They're going to be honored by it.
Speaker 2: And if somebody comes to you this week and says,
Speaker 2: I just need you to hear my confession, because the
Speaker 2: Bible says confess to one another.
Speaker 3: Then you just listen to them and you love them,
Speaker 3: and you.
Speaker 2: Say, in the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven. Now,
Speaker 2: let me tell you something. The secret in your life
Speaker 2: that you most want to conceal is the secret you
Speaker 2: most badly need to reveal in order to be healed.
Speaker 2: If you want healing, there's got to be some revealing.
Speaker 2: And you got to stop concealing the very thing that
Speaker 2: you don't want anybody to know about. That's the very
Speaker 2: area God wants to give you the most grace and
Speaker 2: the most mercy and the most healing. And you will
Speaker 2: receive the most joy when you're forgiven. He So I
Speaker 2: have this compulsion, so what?
Speaker 3: So what? Well? I have this addiction, so what? I
Speaker 3: have this same sex attraction? So what?
Speaker 2: We're in a broken world. Nothing works right, you can
Speaker 2: experience God's grace. When do I do this as soon
Speaker 2: as possible? You don't procrastinate?
Speaker 3: Why because I know what's on the other side of it.
Speaker 3: Look at this verse.
Speaker 2: What happiness those whose guilt has been forgiven? What happiness?
Speaker 2: It's like a mountain guilt off your shoulder. The relief,
Speaker 2: What a relief to those who have confessed their sins
Speaker 2: and Goddess cleared their record. How do you spell relief?
Speaker 2: C n fess confess. That's how you find relief. Now
Speaker 2: there's one other step. I review every area of my life.
Speaker 2: I repent of the sins I own up to him.
Speaker 2: I resolve to make restitution. I receive God's forgiveness. He's
Speaker 2: waiting to it. I reveal my faults to a friend
Speaker 2: so I can be emotionally healed. And then step six is, oh,
Speaker 2: by the way, repeat these steps regularly. That's step number six.
Speaker 2: Repeat the other five regularly. Now you guys, I'm a grandfather.
Speaker 2: So let me give you some advice. Never procrastinate changing.
Speaker 3: A diaper.
Speaker 2: Because it's all gonna come out in the end. Okay,
Speaker 2: the longer you procrastinate, the messier it's gonna get. Never
Speaker 2: put off cleaning up a mess. Let me give you
Speaker 2: another piece of advice, personal advice. Take a bath every
Speaker 2: now and then people will like it. You'll smell better
Speaker 2: if you clean up. If you spend some time cleaning
Speaker 2: up periodically.
Speaker 3: Good thing.
Speaker 2: Let me give you another piece of advice. Take the
Speaker 2: garbage out of your kitchen every day.
Speaker 3: What if you only.
Speaker 2: Took the garbage out of your kitchen once a year,
Speaker 2: your house would stink some of you, your life stinks
Speaker 2: because you haven't taken the garbage out. Maybe ever, what
Speaker 2: I I've shared with you, I have done it hundreds
Speaker 2: and hundreds of times. Personal spiritual, moral inventory. And one
Speaker 2: of the reasons why God blesses my life is because
Speaker 2: I try to keep short accounts with God. I'm a
Speaker 2: very flawed individual. I sin, I make mistakes, I blow it,
Speaker 2: I'm selfish.
Speaker 3: But you know what, I try to keep short accounts
Speaker 3: of God.
Speaker 2: And I say God, okay, I don't want to carry
Speaker 2: in tomorrow the garbage from today, and it's like spiritual breathing.
Speaker 2: You exhale all the carbon monoxide and you inhale all
Speaker 2: the oxygen. Friends, God wants to bless your life. I
Speaker 2: know this from personal experience. God wants to use your life.
Speaker 2: He wants to bless you, and he wants to make
Speaker 2: you a blessing to other people. And they say, could
Speaker 2: God use me? Oh yeah. God uses every kind of vessel.
Speaker 2: He can use small vessels, he can use plane vessels,
Speaker 2: he can use ordinary vessels, he can use shy vessels.
Speaker 2: He even uses broken vessels. But the only thing God
Speaker 2: will not use is a dirty vessel. And this is
Speaker 2: a test. Are you willing to do what God tells
Speaker 2: you to do? Are you willing to do it today?
Speaker 2: Are you willing to be honest to God and honest
Speaker 2: with yourself?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: I want you to notice one thing. I want you
Speaker 2: to circle all the lettuce. Let us on this nose
Speaker 2: here first point. Let us test circle that to Let us.
Speaker 3: Then then look at the next one.
Speaker 2: Let us turn circle the lettuce number point number two, okay,
Speaker 2: then number four point four. Let us come boldly to
Speaker 2: find grace where we will find it okay. And then
Speaker 2: the verse underneath that, let us grasp the fact that
Speaker 2: we now have peace and reconciliation. And then in this
Speaker 2: last verse from two point six, you circle the Let us,
Speaker 2: as I read it, let us draw near to God
Speaker 2: with a sincere heart and full assurance, having our faith,
Speaker 2: our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience.
Speaker 2: You don't have that one anymore. Let us hold unsquervingly
Speaker 2: to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
Speaker 2: And let us consider how we may spur one another
Speaker 2: onto love and good deeds. And let us not give
Speaker 2: up meeting together. He's talking about small groups, as some
Speaker 2: are doing, but let us encourage one another. This is
Speaker 2: a walk through the let us patch. Here's the point,
Speaker 2: these six steps. We are to take them together. You're
Speaker 2: not on your own. You're not a lone ranger. You're
Speaker 2: not out there by yourself. We're all in the same boat.
Speaker 2: We've all blown it, and we all need forgiveness. We
Speaker 2: all need cleansing, and God wants to bless us all.
Speaker 2: We are a church family. We are better together. You
Speaker 2: need a church home, you need to be connected. If
Speaker 2: you're not in a small group. You need to join
Speaker 2: a small group, get connected a small group. If you
Speaker 2: are not connected spiritually to God and to other people,
Speaker 2: you're not going to have the strength to do this.
Speaker 2: We are to do it together. Let us pray say
Speaker 2: this in your heart, Dear Jesus. I'm tired of carrying
Speaker 2: this secret guilt and the regrets and the shame around
Speaker 2: all the time, and I need to unload it. And
Speaker 2: I need to receive your gift of mercy for my
Speaker 2: past and grace.
Speaker 3: For my future.
Speaker 2: So God, right now, I am promising you that I
Speaker 2: will do a personal moral inventory. I'm going to do
Speaker 2: what Pastor Rick just taught me to do, and I
Speaker 2: commit in advance to confessing anything you help me. Remember,
Speaker 2: I want to be clean. I want to be pure
Speaker 2: on the inside so you can bless me and so
Speaker 2: you can use me to bless other people. I want
Speaker 2: a fresh start and I want a clear conscience. So
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, come in and clean out every room.
Speaker 3: In my life. I pray this in your name.
Speaker 5: Amen, Hi, this is Pastor Rick.
Speaker 2: If you just pray to accept Jesus Christ into your heart, congratulations,
Speaker 2: you're now my brother or sister and the Lord and
Speaker 2: you need to tell somebody, and why don't you tell me?
Speaker 2: Write to me Rick at Pastorick dot com. Just email
Speaker 2: me Rick at Pastorick dot com and tell me your story.
Speaker 2: I would love to read it. And by the way,
Speaker 2: I'll send you some free material to help you start
Speaker 2: in your new journey with the Lord God bless you.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's daily Hope. We're so glad you're
Speaker 1: with us today. Recently, Pastor Rick had our graphic designers
Speaker 1: create a beautiful frameable version of the Lord's Prayer that
Speaker 1: you can download for free right now by visiting Pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com. That's Pastorick dot com. Rick will be back
Speaker 1: in a moment. But first fall is here and that
Speaker 1: means Christmas is right around the corner. That's why we
Speaker 1: want to let you know that Rick and his wife
Speaker 1: Kay created an advent calendar with specially commissioned custom artwork.
Speaker 1: It's beautiful. Here's Pastor Rick to tell you more.
Speaker 2: You know, friends, one of the most common questions that
Speaker 2: you hear this time of the year is are you
Speaker 2: ready for Christmas? It's a question that shows how much
Speaker 2: preparation we think is necessary just to celebrate this holiday
Speaker 2: and this Holy Day. We think getting ready for Christmas
Speaker 2: means putting up decorations and buying and wrapping gifts and
Speaker 2: sending cards and planning meals and helping with school plays
Speaker 2: and church musicals and office parties, and the list goes
Speaker 2: on and on, making sure that we help all the
Speaker 2: people who are in need. But does doing all that
Speaker 2: really get us ready for Christmas? We'll making it through
Speaker 2: a checklist, prepare me for celebrating the Birth of Jesus.
Speaker 2: We both know the answer is no, and we both
Speaker 2: know that it's too easy to get so caught up
Speaker 2: in doing too many things, many of them good things,
Speaker 2: but so many things that we forget the real reason
Speaker 2: for the season. So you know what, Here at Daily Hope,
Speaker 2: we've put together a brand new resource that I want
Speaker 2: you to have. I hope it will help you really
Speaker 2: get ready for celebrating the Birth of Jesus. It's an
Speaker 2: advent calendar, a calendar of preparation. And each day on
Speaker 2: this calendar, you'll open one Bible verse and then you
Speaker 2: just turn to the corresponding page and a companion book
Speaker 2: that we've put together, and you read through the very
Speaker 2: short spiritual growth devotional. Not only takes a couple minutes
Speaker 2: to read the Bible verse and the devotional, but it's
Speaker 2: going to prepare your heart for the coming of Christ
Speaker 2: at Christmas. My hope is at this resource, this advent calendar.
Speaker 2: Preparing your heart for Christmas will help you spend the
Speaker 2: holiday expressing your gratitude to God, worshiping instead of worrying,
Speaker 2: and taking things off your schedule so you can appreciate
Speaker 2: the true meaning of Christmas. I don't want you to
Speaker 2: miss the miracle of Jesus this Christmas.
Speaker 1: You'll want to get the Daily Hope Advent Calendar and
Speaker 1: devotional booklet in your hands now to start using it
Speaker 1: on December first. This resource is a perfect way to
Speaker 1: share the gift of Jesus at Christmas with your friends
Speaker 1: and family, and we'll send it to you to say
Speaker 1: thanks when you give a gift to Daily Hope to
Speaker 1: help take the good news of Jesus Christ to people everywhere.
Speaker 1: Quantities are limited, so get yours now. Call eight hundred
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four to support Daily Hope
Speaker 1: and we'll send you this powerful resource, or you can
Speaker 1: visit Pastororrick dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand four or pastorick dot com. Be sure to join
Speaker 1: us next time as we look into God's Word for
Speaker 1: our daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's
Speaker 1: Daily Hope and your generous financial support.