Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Rick Warren, and Merry Christmas. Christmas is going
Speaker 1: to be here very soon. And Jesus said in Luke
Speaker 1: fourteen twenty three, go out into the highways in the
Speaker 1: countryside and urge everybody you find to come in so
Speaker 1: that my house will be full. Who are you thinking
Speaker 1: of to bring to your church? Whoever it is. I
Speaker 1: want to challenge you to be a light at Christmas
Speaker 1: and invite them to services at your church.
Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. This is
Speaker 2: the Bible teaching ministry of Rick Warren. Hey, we're so
Speaker 2: glad you've joined us today. We're continuing a powerful series
Speaker 2: called radicalis Developing Spiritual Roots. And in this series, Rick
Speaker 2: will show you how to grow deep in your faith,
Speaker 2: stay grounded in God's word, and become everything He created
Speaker 2: you to be. Let's join Rick right now for the
Speaker 2: final part of a message called Radical Generosity.
Speaker 1: Now, the greatest miracle is not this offering, not at all.
Speaker 1: It's not even the amount of the offering. That's not
Speaker 1: the miracle. The miracle is what takes place in you
Speaker 1: and in me and everybody else who had a little
Speaker 1: part in it, whether it was big, little, medium or anything.
Speaker 1: Anybody had a part in this. The miracle is what
Speaker 1: takes place in us because every time I do radical
Speaker 1: generosity with my life and again I'm not just talking
Speaker 1: about money. When I'm radically generous with my attention and
Speaker 1: I listen to my kids or I listen to somebody
Speaker 1: and hurt, when I'm radically generous with my sympathy and
Speaker 1: I say, yeah, I understand that that makes sense. When
Speaker 1: I'm radically generous with my time and I don't have
Speaker 1: time to give it to you, but I help you out.
Speaker 1: And when I'm radically generous with my service, and when
Speaker 1: I'm radically generous with my compliments, and when I'm radically
Speaker 1: generous with praise, and I'm radically generous with forgiveness for
Speaker 1: people who've hurt me, and I just forgiven as they
Speaker 1: forget it. Don't worry about it, blow it off, you,
Speaker 1: let it go. What that does is an amazing transformation
Speaker 1: in you. There are five things that happen. Let me
Speaker 1: just give them to you. I'm not even going to
Speaker 1: talk much about them on the back of your outline.
Speaker 1: The results of radical generosity living a life of generosity.
Speaker 1: Number one, it increases my love for Jesus. It increases
Speaker 1: my love for Jesus, because giving is an act of love,
Speaker 1: the Bible says in verses eight and nine. A second
Speaker 1: crienty eight, Paul's talking to the church in Corinth. He says,
Speaker 1: just as you excel and everything else, He says, you
Speaker 1: guys are really good at a lot of stuff, just
Speaker 1: as you excel in everything else. In faith, he said,
Speaker 1: you excel in speech and knowledge, even in complete earnings,
Speaker 1: even in your love for Us, he said, see also
Speaker 1: that you excel in the grace of giving. He says, No,
Speaker 1: I'm not commanding you. Why because commanding is not what
Speaker 1: God wants. I just want to test the sincerity of
Speaker 1: your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others,
Speaker 1: he said, I want to test the sincerity of your love.
Speaker 1: Every time you give, every time I give. You're generous
Speaker 1: with anything in your life. It does two things. It
Speaker 1: proves your love for Jesus, and two it strengthens It
Speaker 1: increases your love for Jesus. I used to see this bumpersticker.
Speaker 1: You don't see it much anymore, but I used to
Speaker 1: laugh when I see it. Said, you know, if you
Speaker 1: love Jesus, tithe any fool can honk. Well, it's true.
Speaker 1: He's just saying, you know, put your money where your
Speaker 1: mouth is. The Bible says Jesus said, where your treasure is,
Speaker 1: your heart will be also, so wherever you want your
Speaker 1: heart to be. I'm telling you this, Invest a little
Speaker 1: in it. You know, you probably couldn't care less about
Speaker 1: Microsoft unless you own stock in Microsoft. Then you cared
Speaker 1: extremely about it. If you want to care about general motors,
Speaker 1: put some money into general motors. Guess what you'll start
Speaker 1: caring about it. You know, whatever you invest in. You
Speaker 1: invest in a political party, all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: start caring about the political party. You invest in a
Speaker 1: project or ministry, all of a sudden, you start caring
Speaker 1: about that ministry. Where your money is, your heart is.
Speaker 1: And when I give myself to Christ, it makes me
Speaker 1: love him more Number two, and not only increases my
Speaker 1: love for Jesus, it makes me like Jesus. It makes
Speaker 1: me more like Jesus. I become more like him. Every
Speaker 1: time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in
Speaker 1: my life. And every time I give, my heart grows bigger.
Speaker 1: And every time I give, I become more like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Why because who's the master example of generosity, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: The Bible says in the next verse, verse nine, you
Speaker 1: are familiar with the generosity of our master Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us,
Speaker 1: circle for us. He gave it all away for us.
Speaker 1: In one stroke, he became poor and we became rich.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's talking about spiritual wealth there, spiritual riches, enrichment.
Speaker 1: What's he talking to here? Jesus Christ had it all.
Speaker 1: He's God, He's the son of God. He's in heaven
Speaker 1: with all the splendor of heaven, and he gives it
Speaker 1: all up, and he comes to earth at Christmas time
Speaker 1: to be born in a barn that's about as low
Speaker 1: as you can go. And why did he do it? Well,
Speaker 1: he certainly didn't do it for himself. He did it
Speaker 1: for you. He's the ultimate act of generosity. God so
Speaker 1: loved the world that he gave God. If you picked
Speaker 1: up all the attributes of God, the number one attribute
Speaker 1: of God is his generosity. Because everything you have is
Speaker 1: a gift. Nothing, the air, the water, the brain, you have,
Speaker 1: your heart beat, everything you have is a total gift
Speaker 1: of God's generosity. You would have nothing without God's generosity. Now,
Speaker 1: in the Bible, there are more promises related to living
Speaker 1: a generous lifestyle than any other thing. Did you know
Speaker 1: that God? Over and over again in scripture, God says,
Speaker 1: if you will be generous with your time, with your money,
Speaker 1: with your life, with your influence, with your love, with
Speaker 1: your forgeinness if you'll be generous with your life, he said,
Speaker 1: I will bless you in this way. In fact, I
Speaker 1: could make you a long list of the promises of generosity.
Speaker 1: Why why does God want us to be generous more
Speaker 1: than anything else? Because it's most like God, like father,
Speaker 1: like son, like father, like daughter. God wants his children
Speaker 1: to be like him. And the number one characteristic of
Speaker 1: God is he is outrageously, lavishly, radically generous. And God says,
Speaker 1: I didn't put you on earth to live for yourself.
Speaker 1: I put you on earth to learn to be other
Speaker 1: persons centered, to be generous, to be unselfish. I didn't
Speaker 1: put you on earth just to live for you. I
Speaker 1: made you to become like me and to learn generosity.
Speaker 1: So it increases my love for Jesus. It makes me
Speaker 1: more like Jesus. Number one three, it deepens my faith.
Speaker 1: Did you know that every time you're generous, your faith grows.
Speaker 1: It not just it doesn't just demonstrate your faith. It
Speaker 1: grows your faith. Why Because you're saying, God, this is
Speaker 1: money or time or energy or whatever that I don't
Speaker 1: have to give away, but I'm going to give it
Speaker 1: to you, or I'm going to give it to somebody else,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to be generous, trusting that you will
Speaker 1: provide for me. It is an evidence, a statement of faith.
Speaker 1: Every time you give, you're making a statement of faith. God.
Speaker 1: This is something I could use for myself, but I'm
Speaker 1: giving it away because I know you'll take care of
Speaker 1: my needs. I know you'll replace it. I know you'll
Speaker 1: supply for what I need, and I am trusting you.
Speaker 1: It demonstrates and it develops your faith. Look at this verse.
Speaker 1: Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and
Speaker 1: whoever sows generously will reap generously. He's talking about sowing seed,
Speaker 1: for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able
Speaker 1: to make all grace a bound to you, so that
Speaker 1: in all things, at all times, having all that you need,
Speaker 1: you will abound in every good work. Now here's what
Speaker 1: he's saying, he said, you know, if a farmer goes
Speaker 1: out and he's gonna spread some seed around, gonna sow
Speaker 1: some seed, he say, he starts throwing the seed and
Speaker 1: sows a little bit of seed, he gets a little crop.
Speaker 1: If he sows a lot of seed, he gets a
Speaker 1: lot of crop. If he sows an enormous amount of seed,
Speaker 1: acres and acres of seed, he gets enormous acres and
Speaker 1: acres of crop. Now, when you sow a seed, you
Speaker 1: don't just get one back. If you plant a cord seed,
Speaker 1: you get one seed of cornback. Now you get a
Speaker 1: whole kernel you get I mean, you get a whole
Speaker 1: stock of corn on the cop that has lots of kernels.
Speaker 1: God always multiplies what you give him. You put in
Speaker 1: a seed, you get back a plant full of tomatoes.
Speaker 1: Out of one tomato seed. You put in an apple seed,
Speaker 1: you get a tree full of apples. God says, I
Speaker 1: multiply it. And he says, he who sows generously will
Speaker 1: reap generously. God says, you get to choose how much
Speaker 1: I bless your life. It's all dependent upon your generosity.
Speaker 1: You sew a little bit, you get a little sow more,
Speaker 1: you get more you so a lot, you get a lot.
Speaker 1: It's all up to you. The more you give away
Speaker 1: your life, the God says, the more I will bless
Speaker 1: your life and I will deepen your faith. Now he
Speaker 1: wants you to get this so badly. He repeats it
Speaker 1: like five times. Look at that verse on your outline.
Speaker 1: I want you to take a pen, and I want
Speaker 1: you to circle the alls. In the second half of
Speaker 1: the verse, it says God is able to make all grace.
Speaker 1: Circle that all grace, okay, And then it says so
Speaker 1: that in all things circle that all things at all
Speaker 1: times circle that having all that you need, circle that
Speaker 1: you will abound in every circle that good work. He's saying,
Speaker 1: get the message. If you will learn to be generous.
Speaker 1: He said, I will take care of your needs all
Speaker 1: the time, all the way, every place, all a while,
Speaker 1: everywhere you could possibly think of all, all, all all.
Speaker 1: It's like I want you to understand it. I mean all,
Speaker 1: he says, I'll take care of all things at all times,
Speaker 1: all you need, and abound in every good work. Look
Speaker 1: at the next verse, verse ten and eleven. God supplies
Speaker 1: seed to the farmer than bread to eat in the
Speaker 1: same way, and God will give you seed. Of course,
Speaker 1: the money you give came from Him in the first place,
Speaker 1: and multiply it. And then I want you to underline this.
Speaker 1: In your lives, he will increase the things you do
Speaker 1: that have His approval. Underline that in your lives he
Speaker 1: God will increase. He'll multiply the things you do that
Speaker 1: have his approval, and you will be enriched so that
Speaker 1: you can be even more generous. That's amazing. God says,
Speaker 1: you give to me, I give to you. Then you
Speaker 1: have more to give, and then you give away more,
Speaker 1: and then I give you more. And the more you
Speaker 1: give away to help other people, the more I give
Speaker 1: to you and honor. It's like a cycle. Creases my
Speaker 1: love for Jesus, makes me more like Jesus, deepens my love.
Speaker 1: Number four, it causes others to thank God when you
Speaker 1: are generous with other people. It causes as people to
Speaker 1: thank God. If you're radically generous and notice the next
Speaker 1: verses Verses eleven and twelve Tewod Corinthians nine. It says
Speaker 1: this your generosity will result here's one of the results
Speaker 1: in thanksgiving to God for this service you perform. Not
Speaker 1: only meets the needs of God's people, but it also
Speaker 1: provides an outpouring of gratitude to God. Now this is
Speaker 1: very important. Get the difference here. In normal generosity, which
Speaker 1: is not spiritually led, it's not out of your commitment
Speaker 1: to Christ. It's just being generous, you know whatever. It's
Speaker 1: not out of your commitment to the Lord. In normal generosity,
Speaker 1: only the donor gets thanked. In radical generosity, the donor
Speaker 1: gets thanked and God gets thanked because of the donor. Lord,
Speaker 1: I thank you for that person who helped meet my need.
Speaker 1: That's radical generosity. Now, friends, because of your generosity of
Speaker 1: people are being helped. Marriages are being saved and put
Speaker 1: back together, Kids are being brought off drugs and adults too.
Speaker 1: People who are in the pits financially are learning financial
Speaker 1: counseling and coming out of that pit. And when you give,
Speaker 1: you're not just giving to some pie in the sky thing.
Speaker 1: You're helping people all over southern California and even around
Speaker 1: the world because we've sent teams to nearly a one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty countries. As I said, the miracle of
Speaker 1: this offering is not the amount. The miracle is what
Speaker 1: God does in your heart, and the miracle is the
Speaker 1: testimony that it is to the world, and that leads
Speaker 1: us to the fifth thing is the fifth result is
Speaker 1: it honors God as a witness to the world. Every
Speaker 1: time you're generous with your time, with your energy, with
Speaker 1: your life, with your words, with your support, with your money,
Speaker 1: with your listening, it honors God as a witness to
Speaker 1: the world. It is an evidence of love. Paul says
Speaker 1: this in verses eleven to thirteen. You will glorify God.
Speaker 1: Glory to God. You will glorify God through this genuine
Speaker 1: act of service because of your commitment to spread the
Speaker 1: good news of Jesus Christ, and because of your generosity.
Speaker 1: He said, when you are committed to spreading the good
Speaker 1: news and helping fund it, you know because of your
Speaker 1: generosity that glorifies God. It is a witness to the world. Now, friends,
Speaker 1: Saddleback Church is serious about the great commission. We are
Speaker 1: committed to taking the good news to the whole world.
Speaker 1: That's why we're doing the Peace Plan. We take this
Speaker 1: seriously to spread the good news of Christ. And as
Speaker 1: I said, once again, you voted with your wallet. Your
Speaker 1: confidence in the direction of this church might challenge you
Speaker 1: is twofold. It's the same challenge agains last week one
Speaker 1: that you'll say, Lord, I'm going deeper. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be a shallow believer. I'm not gonna be a casual believer.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be a wimpy believer. I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: a spiritually mature man of God or a spiritually mature
Speaker 1: woman of God. I'm not gonna whimp out anymore. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be there. I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna sink down
Speaker 1: deep spiritual roots and be what God wants me to be.
Speaker 1: That's my first challenge you. My second challenge to you
Speaker 1: is that this year you start praying God, help me
Speaker 1: to reach one more for Jesus, not twenty, just one.
Speaker 1: I want somebody to be in heaven because of you.
Speaker 1: I want when you get to heaven, somebody comes up
Speaker 1: and says, thank you so much. I'm eternally grateful. I'm
Speaker 1: in heaven because of you. Is anybody gonna be in
Speaker 1: heaven because of you? You're gonna be in heaven because
Speaker 1: of somebody else who told you. I want to tell
Speaker 1: you that if you will pray this, help me reach
Speaker 1: one more for Jesus, God will answer that prayer. He'll
Speaker 1: make it so easy, so simple. Naturally, it won't be scary.
Speaker 1: It'll be easy for you to bring somebody to church.
Speaker 1: And at the end of this year, God will have
Speaker 1: answered that prayer and you will have brought somebody to
Speaker 1: Christ and they'll be in heaven. Because of you, we
Speaker 1: are going to shine like stars in the universe, holding
Speaker 1: forth the word of God, taking it to every nation.
Speaker 1: And you have proven that. As we start a new
Speaker 1: year in a way unlike any other church, let me
Speaker 1: pray for you as your pastor have any Father, I
Speaker 1: want to thank you for this church. I love these people.
Speaker 1: I love our church family. I thank you for the
Speaker 1: privilege of being a part of this particular family of God.
Speaker 1: We love you, and we look forward to the future
Speaker 1: with great anticipation. And Father, I pray you will bless
Speaker 1: every single man in this room, and bless every single
Speaker 1: woman in this room. Bless every single adult, Bless every couple,
Speaker 1: Bless every family. I ask you to bless every senior
Speaker 1: adult and every young child. Lord, I ask you to
Speaker 1: protect our people this next year. I ask you to
Speaker 1: protect them from evil, protect them from discouragement, from depression,
Speaker 1: from disappointment. But most of all, I ask that you
Speaker 1: help them develop deep spiritual roots, that they'll grow closer
Speaker 1: and closer to you, finding the maturity and the stability
Speaker 1: so that nothing blows them away. Then no circumstance, no rogue, win,
Speaker 1: no economy, nothing takes away their joy, nothing takes away
Speaker 1: their faith. Then nothing can take away their love for
Speaker 1: you and for others. I ask that you bless the
Speaker 1: jobs and the careers of every person here. I pray
Speaker 1: that they will be successful, not for their own benefit,
Speaker 1: but so that they can bless the world, so that
Speaker 1: you enable them to be able to help other people.
Speaker 1: I ask you to protect their health. I ask you
Speaker 1: to protect their minds, their emotions. Bless them spiritually with
Speaker 1: new insight. Bless them emotionally with joy and peace and love.
Speaker 1: Bless the relationships for those who want to get married.
Speaker 1: May this be the year. For those who want to
Speaker 1: have a family, May this be the year. Lord. We
Speaker 1: don't know what your will is in any situation, but
Speaker 1: we do know you've told us to ask. So on
Speaker 1: the behalf of my people, I'm asking you to meet
Speaker 1: their needs, to answer their prayers, to hear their request. Lord,
Speaker 1: I'm your friend, and I ask you to do this
Speaker 1: because of me, but because of Jesus, because of what
Speaker 1: Jesus did on the cross. Thank you that you were
Speaker 1: the model of generosity for all of us, that we
Speaker 1: could never outgive you. Well, their heads still about if
Speaker 1: you've never invited Christ in your life. Don't you dare
Speaker 1: go one more day into this new decade without saying
Speaker 1: yes to Him? Right now in your heart, say Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: I'm saying yes to you. I don't understand it all.
Speaker 1: Come into my life. Just say that, come into my life.
Speaker 1: I want to learn to trust you and love you.
Speaker 1: I want to follow you. I want to ask you
Speaker 1: to accept me into your family. Just say that in
Speaker 1: your heart and he will do it. Lord, make me
Speaker 1: more like you. Help me to be generous in every
Speaker 1: area of my life this year. I want to be
Speaker 1: a giver, not a taker, and I want you to
Speaker 1: use me for your glory in Jesus's name. Amen. You know,
Speaker 1: if you just prayed that prayer for the very first time,
Speaker 1: or you just recommitted your life to Jesus again today,
Speaker 1: would you let me know about it. There's something real
Speaker 1: about sharing your commitment. So write me Rick at pastorick
Speaker 1: dot com and say Rick, I prayed that prayer of commitment.
Speaker 1: I gave my life to Christ, and I'll send you
Speaker 1: some material that will help you on your journey with Jesus,
Speaker 1: and I'll also pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: You know your prayers and financial support have a huge
Speaker 2: impact on millions of people here and around the world,
Speaker 2: so we really appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: And now Rick's going to share a letter from one
Speaker 2: of our listeners who says Daily Hope is making a
Speaker 2: real difference in their life.
Speaker 1: Friends, here's an incredible testimony from a woman named Amy
Speaker 1: in Indiana about how she used a Daily Hope devotional
Speaker 1: to lead her own son to Christ. You could do
Speaker 1: this too. Here's what she wrote. Dear Pastor Rick, I've
Speaker 1: been carrying a burden this past month for my fifteen
Speaker 1: year old son who had not accepted Christ. But last
Speaker 1: night was the night I finally went into his room
Speaker 1: and I asked him and he told me no, that
Speaker 1: he hadn't accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. So
Speaker 1: then I asked if he would like to and he
Speaker 1: said yes. Well, I had him read the prayer of
Speaker 1: a Salvation attached to the Daily Hope devotional, and then
Speaker 1: I prayed with him and I prayed for him. Wow, Amy,
Speaker 1: what an incredible, precious moment that you were able to
Speaker 1: lead your son to Jesus. It's the most important thing
Speaker 1: you'll ever do as a parent. And I'm so blessed
Speaker 1: to hear your testimony, and I hope it encourages every
Speaker 1: other parent to be faithful like that. I want to
Speaker 1: just pray for you and your son right now. You're Jesus.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for caring so much that
Speaker 1: you made a way for us to become a part
Speaker 1: of your family so that we can join you in
Speaker 1: heaven one day. And thank you for giving Amy the
Speaker 1: courage to ask the question. Thank you for giving her
Speaker 1: the courage to talk to her son about you. And
Speaker 1: we're so grateful that he's accepted you into his heart.
Speaker 1: Now we ask you to give him a receptive heart
Speaker 1: and help him to get into God's word on a
Speaker 1: daily basis. We know that's the way he's going to grow.
Speaker 1: So thank you Lord for Amy's obedience and Jesus, right now,
Speaker 1: I'm praying for more and more people to do what
Speaker 1: Amy did to have the courage to step out and
Speaker 1: share their faith with a friend, a neighbor, a loved
Speaker 1: one who doesn't know you yet. I'm praying that you
Speaker 1: will give them just the right words and just the
Speaker 1: right time to share just the right message of your
Speaker 1: salvation in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, my friends, there is
Speaker 1: nothing more important you can do than lead somebody to
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Your life can never be considered a failure.
Speaker 1: If somebody is going to be in heaven because of you, youths,
Speaker 1: help them settle their eternal destiny. Fact, that's why Daily
Speaker 1: Hope exists. It's simply one more method to help you
Speaker 1: tell more and more people about the forgiveness and the
Speaker 1: hope and the salvation and the love and the joy
Speaker 1: that's found in Jesus Christ. Through Daily Hope, we can
Speaker 1: work together to help other moms and dads like Amy
Speaker 1: and others reach their sons and their daughters for Jesus Christ. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm always grateful for your prayers, and I'm always grateful
Speaker 1: for your financial support. But you may ask how important
Speaker 1: is your donation to Daily Hope Ministry. Just ask Amy,
Speaker 1: she's got a son who's going to be in heaven
Speaker 1: because you gave. Thank you everybody you know.
Speaker 2: If you'd like to help support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope
Speaker 2: and have your financial gift doubled by the one hundred
Speaker 2: thousand dollars matching grant, it's easy. Just go to Pastororick
Speaker 2: dot com or text the word hope to seven oh
Speaker 2: three oh nine. Again, that's Pastorick dot com. Or text
Speaker 2: the word hope to seven oh three oh nine and thank.
Speaker 1: You so much for your support.
Speaker 2: Be sure to join us next time as we look
Speaker 2: into God's word for our daily hope. This program is
Speaker 2: sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial
Speaker 2: support