Speaker 1: Hello, everybody. This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad you're here.
Speaker 3: Today.
Speaker 1: We're continuing our series from Psalm twenty three called Living
Speaker 1: in the Goodness of God. It's all about how God's
Speaker 1: goodness meets you right where you are and brings hope
Speaker 1: even in difficult season. In today's message, you'll hear the
Speaker 1: final part of a message called the God of My Valleys.
Speaker 2: Even when I walk through the Valley of the Shadow
Speaker 2: of Death, friends, Sooner or later, this shadow is going
Speaker 2: to cross your path if it hasn't already, That shadow
Speaker 2: of death is going to cross your life. I've lost
Speaker 2: a mom and a dad, and a brother, and a son.
Speaker 3: And his pastor. I've lost a lot of friends, and.
Speaker 2: I've stood at more bedsides in their final moments than.
Speaker 3: You would ever want to stand at.
Speaker 2: I have seen the Valley of the Shadow Death probably
Speaker 2: more than anybody in this room unless you're a nurse.
Speaker 2: But it's going to fall across your life. At some time.
Speaker 2: That shadow is going to fall across your life. You
Speaker 2: know what I've learned in watching that so many times,
Speaker 2: I've learned that shadows are often larger than the real thing.
Speaker 2: You ever seen a shadow of a truck that was
Speaker 2: bigger than a truck? Yeah, shadows are often bigger than
Speaker 2: the real thing. The other thing I've learned is that
Speaker 2: shadows can't hurt you. You ever been run over by
Speaker 2: a shadow of a truck? How'd you handle that? It's
Speaker 2: not like a truck. Is there an instream being run
Speaker 2: over by a truck and being run over by a
Speaker 2: shadow of a truck? Yes, And so it is your
Speaker 2: fear of death because you're not ready to meet God.
Speaker 2: It is your fear of the shadow of death that
Speaker 2: haunts you. Fear is always greater. It's an image without substance.
Speaker 2: That's what a shadow is. But here's the most important
Speaker 2: thing I've learned about shadow. There cannot be a shadow
Speaker 2: without a light. The shadows in your life are the
Speaker 2: evidence of the presence of light in your life. If
Speaker 2: there was no shadow in your life, there would be
Speaker 2: no light. Because there's no light, there's no shadow. Shadows
Speaker 2: imply the presence of light.
Speaker 3: God is with me.
Speaker 2: God is with me. And the way you deal with
Speaker 2: shadows of death, or the shadows of despair, or the
Speaker 2: shadow of depression, or the shadow or the fear that
Speaker 2: you're losing your mind, or the shadow that you're going
Speaker 2: to die alone, or the shadow. You name your fear.
Speaker 2: How do you deal with the shadow. Here's how you
Speaker 2: do it. You turn your back to the shadow and
Speaker 2: you look at the light, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you don't see the shadow anymore. Every time you get afraid,
Speaker 2: you need to look at the light. Jesus said, I
Speaker 2: am the light of the world. He who believes in
Speaker 2: me shall not walk in darkness. He who believes in
Speaker 2: me will not stumble in darkness. I am the light
Speaker 2: of the world. The first thing God said when he
Speaker 2: created the universe, let there be light. The Bible says
Speaker 2: God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Speaker 2: When you are scared by the shadows in your life,
Speaker 2: you just need to turn around and look at the light.
Speaker 2: Stop focusing on the stuff that's scaring you to death,
Speaker 2: those bills, those fears, those worries, that stuff that goes
Speaker 2: around in your mind, and just get your focus off
Speaker 2: your fear and get your focus on the Father. You
Speaker 2: look at the light and the shadow can't hurt you.
Speaker 2: In fact, you don't even see it. And when you're
Speaker 2: going through a tunnel. How do you make it through
Speaker 2: a tunnel? You keep your eyes on the light at
Speaker 2: the end, and you just keep going. Remember that God
Speaker 2: is with me. Shadows can frighten you, but they can't
Speaker 2: harm you. Look at this verse on the screen. There's
Speaker 2: benefits even in the shadows and Job twelve twenty two.
Speaker 2: God uncovers deep things out of darkness. God uncovers deep
Speaker 2: things out of darkness, and he brings into light even
Speaker 2: black gloom and the shadow of death. I've told you
Speaker 2: many times since Matthew died, I learned stuff in his death,
Speaker 2: and I've never learned any other way. Spending hours and
Speaker 2: hours alone with God for one hundred and twenty two
Speaker 2: days after my son died. The stuff I learned in
Speaker 2: the value of the shadow of death, I would.
Speaker 3: Have not learned any other way.
Speaker 2: God uncovers deep things out of darkness, and God says,
Speaker 2: just remember you're not going through this by yourself. You
Speaker 2: may not be able to see me, but I'm there.
Speaker 2: And if you see a shadow, guess what its presence shows.
Speaker 2: There's light Isaiah forty three, Verse two. When you go
Speaker 2: through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you.
Speaker 2: And when you go through rivers of difficulty, you will
Speaker 2: not drown. And when you walk through the fires of oppression,
Speaker 2: you will not burned up. The flames will not consume you.
Speaker 2: I don't know what value you're going through, but the
Speaker 2: antidote of Psalm seventy three twenty eight. As for me,
Speaker 2: God's presence is all I need. I've made the sovereign
Speaker 2: Lord my shelter. And if God is a sovereign lord
Speaker 2: of your life, he is your shelter. Not don't anything else.
Speaker 2: As for me, God's presence.
Speaker 3: Is all I need.
Speaker 2: Remember I'm not alone. Number two. Second thing you need
Speaker 2: to remember when you're in a struggle and in the valley,
Speaker 2: remember that God has a good purpose for my valley.
Speaker 2: Remember that God has a good purpose for my valley.
Speaker 2: Remember this whole chapter, This whole Psalm is on the
Speaker 2: goodness of God. God is a good God. God cannot
Speaker 2: do evil. It's impossible for God to do evil. God
Speaker 2: can only do good in your life. God has good
Speaker 2: plans for your life. And so I remember that even
Speaker 2: in the problems, I'm going through the valleys. I'm going
Speaker 2: through the valley of conflict or grief or fear, or
Speaker 2: failure or whatever that has a good purpose for my
Speaker 2: valley Romans five, Verse three.
Speaker 3: And top five.
Speaker 2: We can even rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering
Speaker 2: produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
Speaker 2: And that kind of hope does not disappoint us. A
Speaker 2: lot of kinds of hope in the world are false hope.
Speaker 2: This kind of hope does not disappoint us because God
Speaker 2: has poured his love into our hearts. God is building
Speaker 2: character when you're going through that valley, and that character
Speaker 2: is going to outlast everything else. Stephen Curtis Chapman has
Speaker 2: just written a new book and it's called Between Heaven
Speaker 2: and the Real World, and he discusses all the values
Speaker 2: he's been through, including the loss of a child. We're
Speaker 2: in a club that nobody wants to be a part of,
Speaker 2: and he says this in an interview. Jesus tells us
Speaker 2: in this world you will have trouble. It's fact. But
Speaker 2: then he says, take heart, because I've overcome the world.
Speaker 2: He's saying that there's another story being told that we
Speaker 2: don't always see. And frankly, Stephen says, if I didn't
Speaker 2: believe that, I'd be an extremely bitter and angry.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: My little girl's death underline and solidified what I knew
Speaker 2: and believed, but it made it more real. And when
Speaker 2: there was nothing else to hold on to, I heard
Speaker 2: myself say, God, I'm going to trust you and worship you.
Speaker 2: And it's not because there's an audience watching. I'm going
Speaker 2: to bless your name, whether you give or take away. Previously,
Speaker 2: to you know, his daughter died from a freak accident. Previously,
Speaker 2: I'd gone fifty feet below sea level, and I thought
Speaker 2: it was dark down there, but I also learned that.
Speaker 3: God was with me.
Speaker 2: But now I was pushed one hundred thousand feet below
Speaker 2: sea level, where it was darker than I could never imagine,
Speaker 2: and I found the same thing was true down there
Speaker 2: as well. I remember I'm not alone, and I remember
Speaker 2: that God has a good purpose for my valley. Joseah
Speaker 2: To fifteen says this.
Speaker 3: I love this.
Speaker 2: In the New Living Translation, I will transform the Valley
Speaker 2: of Trouble into a gateway of hope. Some of you
Speaker 2: need that verse. The Valley of Trouble actually is a valley.
Speaker 2: It's the Valley of Acre. I didn't have time to
Speaker 2: cover it. It's covered both twice in Joshua, and it's
Speaker 2: covered in Hoseah. And you're gonna go through the valley
Speaker 2: of Acre to the Valley of trouble. And God says,
Speaker 2: I will turn the valley of trouble into a valley,
Speaker 2: a gateway of hope, a doorway to hope. One translation says,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna turn trouble.
Speaker 3: Valley into hopeful valley.
Speaker 2: Colaussians one to eleven says this God will give you.
Speaker 2: God will strengthen you with his own great power so
Speaker 2: that you will not give up when troubles come, but
Speaker 2: you will be patient. He's not just going to give
Speaker 2: you his presence. He's going to give you his power.
Speaker 2: So I remember, I remember that I'm not alone. And
Speaker 2: I remember that God has a purpose, a good purpose
Speaker 2: for the valley I'm in. The third thing I remember
Speaker 2: is that the reward will last forever. This is not
Speaker 2: the end of the story, friends, and you're going to
Speaker 2: be rewarded for being faithful to Christ in the valley
Speaker 2: the failure, from the Valley of Fear, from the Valley
Speaker 2: of Conflict, the Valley of grief, the value of brokenness,
Speaker 2: and the Valley of Trouble, and all the other values
Speaker 2: that are in scripture Clausian Tewod Corinth four seventeen. For
Speaker 2: our present troubles are quite small.
Speaker 3: In relatives to eternity.
Speaker 2: Our present troubles are quite small, and they won't last
Speaker 2: very long. Yet they are producing in us an eternal
Speaker 2: glory which will last forever and is greater than anything
Speaker 2: we can imagine. You won't be in heaven one minute,
Speaker 2: and you'll be going What was I thinking? Why did
Speaker 2: I complain so much? Why did I gripe so much?
Speaker 2: Why did I worry when I was going through these
Speaker 2: different valleys of life? It was worth it all. I
Speaker 2: don't know what value you're going through. Psalm one oh
Speaker 2: seven says this up here on the screen. Some were
Speaker 2: living in gloom and darkness, like prisoners in chains, suffering
Speaker 2: and chains, because they'd rebelled against the commands of all
Speaker 2: Mighty God doing You weren't doing what God told you
Speaker 2: to do. So you're in a valley and they had
Speaker 2: rejected his instructions. As a result, they're worn out from
Speaker 2: hard work. But then in their trouble, they called to
Speaker 2: the Lord, and he saved them from their distress. He
Speaker 2: brought them out of their gloom and darkness. He broke
Speaker 2: their chains in peaces, and they now must thank the
Speaker 2: Lord for his constant love and for the wonderful things
Speaker 2: that he did for them. Now, until we get to Heaven,
Speaker 2: we're going to face valleys. Believers have accidents, disappointments, financial problems,
Speaker 2: family issues, mental illness, physical illness. We all go through values.
Speaker 2: But here is the difference between a believer and an unbeliever.
Speaker 2: For a Christian, for follower of Christ, going through the
Speaker 2: valley is different from a non believer, not because of
Speaker 2: the absence of the shadow, but because of the presence
Speaker 2: of the shepherd.
Speaker 3: I will be with you.
Speaker 2: The Lord is my shepherd, and he gives me his
Speaker 2: promise of power and purpose and protection and peace and
Speaker 2: his presence. I don't know what kind of value you're
Speaker 2: going through. Some of you are in the depth of
Speaker 2: the darkest valley, have no doubt about that. But regard
Speaker 2: regardless of the type of.
Speaker 3: Valley, it's not gonna last.
Speaker 2: There is a way out, and you have a shepherd,
Speaker 2: but you've got to decide to make him your shepherd.
Speaker 2: The Lord is not your shepherd unless you've asked.
Speaker 3: Him to be your shepherd.
Speaker 2: Unless you've surrendered your life to him, unless you said, God,
Speaker 2: I can't make it through this valley without you. When
Speaker 2: you do that, the Lord is my shepherd, and I
Speaker 2: have everything I need, and he does all these things
Speaker 2: for me. Did you notice the change in tents when
Speaker 2: we went from verse three to verse four? Verse one,
Speaker 2: two and three is how God helps us in the
Speaker 2: good times. He leads me, he guides me, He helps me,
Speaker 2: He meets so many needs. He makes me lie down
Speaker 2: and rest. He provides everything I need. It's it's third person.
Speaker 2: He Now we get to the problems and he switches
Speaker 2: and he says, I will fear no evil for you
Speaker 2: are with me. He didn't say he is with me.
Speaker 2: He's not talking to a third person anymore. Nothing makes
Speaker 2: the ultimate intimate faster than pain. Now he's not talking
Speaker 2: about God out there, he's talking about God in here.
Speaker 3: He is become has become you. I'm not going to.
Speaker 2: Fear for you. You you are with me, and you
Speaker 2: will protect me. We're going to look at that in
Speaker 2: another week. So there's one last valley you need to
Speaker 2: go through, and it's the valley in Joel three fourteen.
Speaker 3: Look up here on the screen.
Speaker 2: Multitudes yet ut Yes, multitudes are in the valley of
Speaker 2: decision for the day of the Lord is near. In
Speaker 2: the valley of decision, you're in it right now. Before
Speaker 2: you were even born, God knew that you would be
Speaker 2: here listening to me speak, so he could say this
Speaker 2: to you. This is your moment of decision. This is
Speaker 2: your valley of decision. You're going to decide for me
Speaker 2: or against me, because it's going to decide everything else.
Speaker 3: In your life. Make the wise choice. That's power heads.
Speaker 2: You're in the value of decision. Whether you're listening to
Speaker 2: this on the Internet or the radio, or at a
Speaker 2: campus or in a small group study, you're in the
Speaker 2: valley of decision for the day of the Lord is near.
Speaker 2: What are you going to decide? Are you going to decide?
Speaker 2: To say, God, I'm going to follow you, not my
Speaker 2: plan anymore. I'm going to have you as the manager
Speaker 2: of my life, not me anymore. I'm going to have
Speaker 2: you as the good shepherd. But you make that decision
Speaker 2: right now. Pray this prayer, Dear God. I know that
Speaker 2: valleys are part of life, that they're inevitable. I've been
Speaker 2: through a lot of them, hills and valleys, highs and lows,
Speaker 2: ups and downs, and I know I shouldn't be surprised
Speaker 2: when it happens. I know the valleys happen to everybody.
Speaker 2: I know that they're unpredictable, that I shouldn't even brag
Speaker 2: about the Marrisons. I don't know what the day is
Speaker 2: going to bring forth. And Lord, as we've looked at
Speaker 2: your word today, I see some of these values valleys
Speaker 2: I've been in will probably be in again, the value
Speaker 2: of Sidham, where I've tried to run from something, tried
Speaker 2: to avoid a battle. I've slipped a fallen, I've gotten stuck,
Speaker 2: and I'm in the pits, and I've had a public failure.
Speaker 2: And Lord, I've been in that valley of esh call
Speaker 2: to the valley of Fear, where I'm got to either
Speaker 2: take the risk and move forward or fall back and
Speaker 2: retreat and defeat. And Lord, yes, I've been in the
Speaker 2: valley of Elau where I've had the conflict and I've
Speaker 2: faced the giant problem. And maybe you're facing it right now.
Speaker 2: And some of you say, Lord, I'm in the valley
Speaker 2: of Baka. I'm all dried up, I'm barren, I'm arid,
Speaker 2: I don't feel anything, or I'm weeping and I'm grieving.
Speaker 2: I'm in the valley of grief and barrenness. Say, help
Speaker 2: me to remember that I'm not alone, that when I
Speaker 2: go go through it, you go with me. You'll be
Speaker 2: with me. And I'm saying today as a declaration. God's
Speaker 2: presence is all I need. I've made the sovereign Lord,
Speaker 2: my shelter. Help me to remember that you have a
Speaker 2: good purpose for even the bad things that happen in
Speaker 2: my life. You turn them around and you use them
Speaker 2: for good. God, I'm asking you to transform the valley
Speaker 2: of trouble into a gateway of hope.
Speaker 3: I want to be a hope dispenser. I want to
Speaker 3: be an agent of hope in the world.
Speaker 2: And when I start to get fatigued and the tunnel
Speaker 2: seems long and the valley seems dark, help me to
Speaker 2: remember that the reward will last forever. And their present
Speaker 2: troubles are really quite small, and they're not going to
Speaker 2: last very long, but they're producing an eternal glory that
Speaker 2: will last forever, and it's.
Speaker 3: Greater than anything we can imagine.
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ, I'm asking you to be my good shepherd.
Speaker 2: I take the hands off the wheel of my life.
Speaker 2: And I ask you to sit in the driver's seat,
Speaker 2: be the director and the manager of my life from
Speaker 2: this day forward. I thank you God. I thank you
Speaker 2: God that you are not just the God of the mountains.
Speaker 2: You're the God of the valleys. You're the God my valleys.
Speaker 2: And so I honor you and I want to love
Speaker 2: you the rest of my life. In your name, I
Speaker 2: pray Amen. You know, if you just prayed that prayer
Speaker 2: for the very first time, or you just recommitted your
Speaker 2: life to Jesus again today, would you let me know
Speaker 2: about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment. So
Speaker 2: 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: Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
Speaker 1: listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. I hope that you
Speaker 1: were just as blessed as I was from today's broadcast.
Speaker 1: Right now, here's Pastor Rick with a special message.
Speaker 2: You know, when I started Saddleback Church over forty years ago,
Speaker 2: just a handful of people in our living room. I
Speaker 2: also began writing a simple devotional just for the people
Speaker 2: in our church to help them start each day with
Speaker 2: hope and with truth and with peace that comes from
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Well, you know, that little devotional grew and
Speaker 2: grew and grew, and today Daily Hope is one of
Speaker 2: the largest email devotions in the whole world. And each
Speaker 2: day people all around the globe are reconnecting with God's
Speaker 2: promises and finding fresh strength in His word to face
Speaker 2: whatever comes their way. And here's the best part. It's
Speaker 2: absolutely free. Okay, we don't have any charge for this.
Speaker 2: Every day you'll get a quick devotional read and a
Speaker 2: podcast that you can listen to on the go. Now,
Speaker 2: you know, in a world that's more distracted and uncertain
Speaker 2: than ever, I want to help you start your day
Speaker 2: centered on what never changes. And what never changes is
Speaker 2: a God's love, his unconditional love for you, and his
Speaker 2: promises to you. You know, if you just spend just
Speaker 2: a few minutes a day in the morning with the Lord,
Speaker 2: it can bring so much more clarity, more purpose, more
Speaker 2: peace to everything that happens in your day. Particularly, a
Speaker 2: psychologist has said that what you do with the first
Speaker 2: five minutes of your day pretty much sets the tone.
Speaker 2: So friend, you were never meant to go through life alone.
Speaker 2: I want to personally invite you to just sign up
Speaker 2: for the Daily Hope devotional. Do it today. I think
Speaker 2: it's going to bring fresh encouragement to your walk in God.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to sign up for the daily devotional,
Speaker 1: it's easy. Just go to pastorick dot com. That's pastorik
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Speaker 1: we look into God's word for our daily hope. This
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