Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the Bible teaching ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in a series
Speaker 1: called Transformed. In these lessons, Rick uncovers key principles found
Speaker 1: in God's Word that will completely transform our lives from
Speaker 1: the inside out in every area including spiritual, physical, mental, emotional, relational, financial,
Speaker 1: and vocational. Now, before we get started, we want to
Speaker 1: let you know that a very generous friend has given
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars matching grant to Daily Hope. That
Speaker 1: means that all this month, every dollar you give to
Speaker 1: help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus around the
Speaker 1: world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: You can find out more by going to Pastorick dot
Speaker 1: com or by texting the word daily to eight hundred
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four. That's Pastor Rick dot
Speaker 1: or the word Daily to eight hundred six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with
Speaker 1: part one of a message called how to Get Closer
Speaker 1: to God.
Speaker 2: Now, our verse is Romans twelve, verse two. Do not
Speaker 2: conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
Speaker 2: by the renewing of your mind, and where is that
Speaker 2: found Romans twelve two. Do not conform to the pattern
Speaker 2: of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
Speaker 2: your mind. Now you've heard me say this many times.
Speaker 2: The way you think determines the way you feel, and
Speaker 2: the way you feel determines the way you act. If
Speaker 2: you want to change something in your life that you
Speaker 2: don't like, you don't start with your actions, and you
Speaker 2: don't even start with your feelings. You start with your thoughts.
Speaker 2: If you're acting depressed, it's because you feel depressed, And
Speaker 2: if you're feeling depressed, it's because you're thinking depressed thoughts.
Speaker 2: The key to transformation starts not in your actions, not
Speaker 2: in your behavior, not in your body. It doesn't start
Speaker 2: with your will. It starts with your thoughts. And if
Speaker 2: you can change the way you think, that'll change the
Speaker 2: way you feel. And if you change the way you feel,
Speaker 2: that will change the way you act. Now, we're gonna
Speaker 2: take that principle Roman's twelve two principle and apply it
Speaker 2: to all seven key areas of your life relational, physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, financial, vocational.
Speaker 2: We're going to look at all seven major areas of
Speaker 2: your life about how do I change the way I
Speaker 2: think about this so that I feel about it differently.
Speaker 2: And then if I feel differently, then it's going to
Speaker 2: change the way I act and the way I respond
Speaker 2: to other people. And that's called transformation. Transformation changes us
Speaker 2: from emptiness to fullness. Transformation changes us from defeat and
Speaker 2: failure to faith and vic Transformation changes us from insecurity
Speaker 2: and inferiority to courage and to boldness. It helps us
Speaker 2: become all that God wants us to be. Now, what
Speaker 2: I want to say in this first session, as we
Speaker 2: begin looking at your spiritual health, and we're going to
Speaker 2: start with that, is that the further away you get
Speaker 2: from God, the more trouble you're going to have in
Speaker 2: your life. The more trials, the more difficulties, the more stress,
Speaker 2: the more things are going to go wrong because you're
Speaker 2: not cooperating with your creator, you're not following God's plan
Speaker 2: for your life. And the Bible says the way of
Speaker 2: the unrighteous is rough, it's full of thorns, it's difficult,
Speaker 2: it's a rocky, rocky road. The further I get away
Speaker 2: from God, the more trouble I'm going to have in
Speaker 2: my life. On the other hand, the closer I get
Speaker 2: to God, the more my life is going to be transformed.
Speaker 2: And we can see this all through the scripture that Paul,
Speaker 2: when he finally met Jesus Christ face to face, he
Speaker 2: was radically transformed from a literally a terrorist, he was
Speaker 2: a religious terrorist, into the apostle of love who wrote
Speaker 2: the most beautiful poem on love ever written or penned
Speaker 2: by men. Isaiah was transformed from a depressed person into
Speaker 2: a courageous person when he met God. When he got
Speaker 2: close to God, Moses got so close to God. The
Speaker 2: Bible says he was even transformed in his appearance, and
Speaker 2: people had to even look away from him. He almost
Speaker 2: like glowed, and he got so close to God. God
Speaker 2: is light, and in him is there are no darkness
Speaker 2: at all. He was literally physically transformed. Now we all
Speaker 2: want to be close to God. I mean, you wouldn't
Speaker 2: be here this weekend if you didn't want to be
Speaker 2: close to God in some way. But the Bible says,
Speaker 2: all we like sheep, have gone astray. We've each turned
Speaker 2: into our own way. In other words, like sheep, we
Speaker 2: tend to wander. You don't have to teach sheep to
Speaker 2: drift off. They just do it naturally, by their very nature.
Speaker 2: They just kind of wander off and the shepherd has
Speaker 2: to bring them back in and they'll walk off a cliff,
Speaker 2: and you know, sheep aren't really that bright an animal.
Speaker 2: They'll walk into a den of wolves, and in all
Speaker 2: kinds of difficult and dangerous situations, sheep tend to wander.
Speaker 2: The Bible says all we, you and me, like sheep
Speaker 2: tend to go astray. We don't tend to stay close
Speaker 2: to God. We tend to wander off. And so this weekend,
Speaker 2: as we start transformation, and if I said, the closer
Speaker 2: you get to God, the more you're going to be transformed,
Speaker 2: we need to talk about how do you get close
Speaker 2: to God? How do you stay close to God? And
Speaker 2: if you've fall in a away from God, how do
Speaker 2: you get back in that close relationship to God. Some
Speaker 2: of you you can point to a time in your
Speaker 2: life and you go, man, I remember when I was
Speaker 2: really I felt God's presence. I was close to God.
Speaker 2: I could sense his friendship, I could sense the fellowship,
Speaker 2: and there was a joy in my life. But I've
Speaker 2: lost that. You know, It's kind of it's like you
Speaker 2: let the air out of a balloon. How do I
Speaker 2: get back to God if I've kind of wandered away,
Speaker 2: if kind of lost the spark, Because if I'm not
Speaker 2: close to God, I don't have the power to make
Speaker 2: all the other transformations.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: We've got some incredible news to share with you. A
Speaker 1: very generous friend has given a one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: matching grant to this ministry all this month. Every dollar
Speaker 1: you give to help Daily Hope share the certain hope
Speaker 1: of Jesus around the world will be matched up to
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars, So twenty five dollars becomes fifty dollars,
Speaker 1: fifty becomes one hundred and five hundred becomes a thousand.
Speaker 1: Whatever you give will be doubled by the matching grant
Speaker 1: up to one hundred thousand dollars, but only till midnight
Speaker 1: December thirty first, So please contact us today. Go to
Speaker 1: Pastorick dot com or just call eight hundred, six hundred
Speaker 1: five thousand and four.
Speaker 3: If you want to make your time in prayer the
Speaker 3: best it can be, then you're going to want to
Speaker 3: get a copy of the brand new twenty twenty one
Speaker 3: Daily Hope Prayer Journal. This year's theme, God's Great Adventure
Speaker 3: for You, will help you tap into God's power and
Speaker 3: presence when you learn how to pray with passion and purpose.
Speaker 3: Covered in soft vegan leather with full color pages, this
Speaker 3: prayer journal has sections to pray for specific people and situations,
Speaker 3: as well as space to express your gratitude and personal
Speaker 3: prayer requests to God. Each page is beautiful designed and
Speaker 3: filled with inspiring Bible versus photos and artwork. The God's
Speaker 3: Great Adventure for You Prayer Journal is a spiritual growth
Speaker 3: tool designed to help you enjoy a vibrant prayer life,
Speaker 3: connect with God, and establish a consistent daily prayer time.
Speaker 3: When you give a gift to help daily hope take
Speaker 3: the certain hope of Jesus to people around the world,
Speaker 3: we'll send you the all new twenty twenty one Daily
Speaker 3: Hope Prayer Journal to say thanks. Quantities are limited, so
Speaker 3: don't wait. Call eight hundred and six hundred five zero
Speaker 3: zero four to get your Prayer journal and have your
Speaker 3: gift matched up to one hundred thousand dollars, or you
Speaker 3: can visit Pastororick dot com that's eight hundred at six
Speaker 3: hundred five zero zero four or pastororik dot com. There
Speaker 3: are only two days left to get your gift matched
Speaker 3: up to one hundred thousand dollars and to receive your
Speaker 3: very special Prayer Journal thank you gift, So please contact
Speaker 3: us right away once again, here's Rick.
Speaker 2: Some of you you can point to a time in
Speaker 2: your life and you go, man, I remember when I
Speaker 2: was really I felt God's presence. I was close to God.
Speaker 2: I could sense his friendship, I could sense the fellowship,
Speaker 2: and there was a joy in my life. But I've
Speaker 2: lost that. You know. It's it's like you let the
Speaker 2: air out of a balloon. How do I get back
Speaker 2: to God if I've kind of wandered away, if kind
Speaker 2: of lost the spark, Because if I'm not close to God,
Speaker 2: I don't have the power to make all the other transformations. Fortunately,
Speaker 2: we have a story in the Bible on how to
Speaker 2: get back to God and how to get close to
Speaker 2: the Father. It's one of the most famous stories in
Speaker 2: the entire Bible. Jesus told that it's the story of
Speaker 2: the prodigal Son, or sometimes it's called the story of
Speaker 2: the Loving Father, because it's really more about the father
Speaker 2: than it's about the son. And that story is in Luke,
Speaker 2: chapter fifteen. Let me read you the story, and then
Speaker 2: we'll pull some principles out of it on how to
Speaker 2: transform your life spiritually, Luke, fifteen, Verses eleven to twenty four.
Speaker 2: Jesus told this story. A man had two sons, and
Speaker 2: the younger son told his father, give me my share
Speaker 2: of your estate now, instead of waiting until you die.
Speaker 2: So the father divided his wealth between his two sons.
Speaker 2: A few days later, the younger son packed all his
Speaker 2: belongings and left to live in a distant land. See,
Speaker 2: he's already getting away from the father. He's getting distant
Speaker 2: from the father. And he got as far, basically as
Speaker 2: far away from the father as he could. He goes
Speaker 2: to a distant land, and there he squandered the gift
Speaker 2: he'd been given. And we've all done that, and he
Speaker 2: wasted his life and money on wild parties and reckless living.
Speaker 2: Now about the time all his money ran out, it's
Speaker 2: the fear and hit the land, and he began to
Speaker 2: starve because he was left with nothing. Now he's getting
Speaker 2: hungry now. The only job he could find was feeding
Speaker 2: swine on a farm, and he became so desperate and
Speaker 2: so hungry that even the pig slop he was feeding
Speaker 2: the swine looked good to him, but no one would
Speaker 2: give him anything for his hunger. When he finally came
Speaker 2: to a census, he said to himself, this is crazy.
Speaker 2: At my father's home, even the lowest paid workers eat
Speaker 2: well while I'm over here, far away, dying of hunger.
Speaker 2: So he goes, I know what I'm going to do,
Speaker 2: he says, I'm going to return home to my father
Speaker 2: and humbly say, Father, i have sinned both against God
Speaker 2: and you, and I'm not worthy to be a part
Speaker 2: of the family or called your son. But please just
Speaker 2: make me one of your servants who works for you.
Speaker 2: I'm not even going to be a family member. Hire
Speaker 2: me out as a servant. Make me one of your
Speaker 2: servants who works for you. And with that attitude, he
Speaker 2: headed back home to his father. But while the son
Speaker 2: was still a long distance away, he hadn't got all
Speaker 2: the way back home. His father saw him coming, and
Speaker 2: filled with love and compassion, he ran out to his son,
Speaker 2: threw his arms around him, and kissed him. The son said,
Speaker 2: now he's got his prepared speech. Father, I have sinned
Speaker 2: against both God and you, and I'm no longer worthy
Speaker 2: of being called your son. But the father said to
Speaker 2: his servants, quick, bring me the finest robe in our
Speaker 2: house and put it on him. Then get my signet
Speaker 2: ring for his finger, and shoes for his feet, and
Speaker 2: then roast the calf that we've been fattening up. We're
Speaker 2: going to celebrate with a feast of eating and drinking,
Speaker 2: for this child of mine was distant and dead, but
Speaker 2: now he's back and alive. He was lost, but now
Speaker 2: he's found, and so the party began. Don't you love
Speaker 2: that story? And it tells the story of how every
Speaker 2: one of us tends to wander away from our creator,
Speaker 2: wander away from the father who made us, wander away
Speaker 2: from the God who loves us. This kid starts off saying, God,
Speaker 2: our dad or father, I want you to give me much,
Speaker 2: rightfully mine. It's all about me. Give me my. It's
Speaker 2: a very self centered life, and that's where we usually
Speaker 2: start in life. Give me my, God, give me my.
Speaker 2: I want mine now, and we're by the way. We're
Speaker 2: in a hurry, and I want it and I want
Speaker 2: it now, and if I can't pay for it, I'll
Speaker 2: put it on credit, and so we're always in a hurry,
Speaker 2: give me mine now. And so he takes off and
Speaker 2: he packs up and he heads off for Sunset Strip
Speaker 2: in Jerusalem, and there he wastes his money and his
Speaker 2: time and his energy on wine, women and song, particularly women,
Speaker 2: and he really gets mets up and he hits the skids,
Speaker 2: and he becomes homeless. And then on top of that,
Speaker 2: the nation goes into a national recession because there's a
Speaker 2: famine in the land, and now nobody has anything to eat,
Speaker 2: So nobody's going to give a panhandlurea a street guy
Speaker 2: naming to eat because they don't have anything to eat.
Speaker 2: And then he can't even find a job. Things go
Speaker 2: from bad to worse, and finally finds a farm where
Speaker 2: he hires himself out to do the worst job on
Speaker 2: the farm, slopping pigs. Now, for a jew that's not
Speaker 2: a good thing, that's not kosher, because you're not even
Speaker 2: supposed to touch a pig. Okay, you're not even supposed
Speaker 2: to have anything to do with pork. He gets the
Speaker 2: worst job a Jewish kid could get, slopping pigs, and
Speaker 2: he gets so hungry and he gets so desperate he's going, Man,
Speaker 2: this stuff looks good. You gotta be serious, seriously desperate
Speaker 2: if you think pig slop looks good. And it says
Speaker 2: nobody gave him anything. And then it says he wises up,
Speaker 2: and it says he came to his senses, and he goes,
Speaker 2: shoot the servants, the poorest paid guys in my dad's employment,
Speaker 2: get eat better than this. What in the world am
Speaker 2: I doing? Now? He knows he doesn't deserve his father's love.
Speaker 2: He knows he doesn't deserve he's just wasted half of
Speaker 2: his dad's inheritance, all that his dad's burned his entire
Speaker 2: life working to earn. And he goes, I know what
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do. I'm not gonna go home and ask
Speaker 2: God to or ask the father to just accept me
Speaker 2: back in the family. I'm just go home and say, look,
Speaker 2: hire me. I'd rather be a servant in your house
Speaker 2: than be over here in a distant country, starving to death.
Speaker 2: And you know the rest of the story. As we
Speaker 2: saw the father's response. Now from this story we gain
Speaker 2: the four things you need to do to get back
Speaker 2: to God. Now I don't know where you are today.
Speaker 2: You may be way, way, way way way way, way,
Speaker 2: way way far away. Maybe I haven't been in church
Speaker 2: in years and years and years, or maybe you a
Speaker 2: little bit closer, or maybe you're a little bit closer,
Speaker 2: but maybe even you've just been distant for a week
Speaker 2: and you've had one of those weeks and you just thought,
Speaker 2: you know, I really don't feel God's presence in my life,
Speaker 2: and yet we all long to be close to God.
Speaker 2: How do I get back to him? You do these
Speaker 2: four things? Okay, write him down. Number one. I get
Speaker 2: fed up. That's the first. I get fed up with
Speaker 2: my life. I get fed up with my circumstance. I
Speaker 2: get fed up with the way I've been living. I
Speaker 2: just get sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Speaker 2: I am not gonna live this way anymore. I am
Speaker 2: too stressed out, I'm too lonely. I'm too depressed. I
Speaker 2: am overworked and busy, and I don't even like myself.
Speaker 2: Why would anybody like me? I don't even like me.
Speaker 2: I don't like the life I'm living right now.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Let me just say this. Nothing is going to happen
Speaker 2: in your life in the next seven weeks until first
Speaker 2: you get dissatisfied with the way you are. If you think, man,
Speaker 2: it's fine, I'm just fine. I don't need any change
Speaker 2: in my life, then you know what, you can sit
Speaker 2: out the next seven weeks because nothing's going to happen
Speaker 2: in your life until you decide I don't like this.
Speaker 2: I'm tired of being stressed out all the time. I'm
Speaker 2: tired of being frustrated all the time. I'm tired of
Speaker 2: feeling distant from God. You gotta get desperate, you gotta
Speaker 2: get hungry. You've got to get anxious for change. Nothing
Speaker 2: happens until you get fed up. In that passage in scripture,
Speaker 2: it says this he wasted it all, he had nothing left,
Speaker 2: He got desperate and hungry, and he finally came to
Speaker 2: a census, and that's where transformation starts.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's daily hope. In just a moment,
Speaker 1: Rick is going to tell you about a recent one
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars matching grant from a very generous listener.
Speaker 1: But first he's going to share with us how God
Speaker 1: has been using your financial gifts to help us share
Speaker 1: Christ with people around the world.
Speaker 2: Here's Rick, Hi, friends, what did it surprise you to
Speaker 2: know that there are entire groups of people who have
Speaker 2: never heard about Jesus still in our world today, I'm
Speaker 2: talking about the small tribes of less than a one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand people in many, many distant places, who have
Speaker 2: never heard the name of Jesus Christ. That means there's
Speaker 2: not a single Christian among them. There is no church,
Speaker 2: they have no Bible, there is no believer. Can you
Speaker 2: imagine that? Would you help me reach these unreached, unengaged people,
Speaker 2: You know, one of the reasons I started Daily Hope
Speaker 2: was to find partners who would help us take the
Speaker 2: hope of the good news of the Gospel to the
Speaker 2: whole world, to the final frontier, these unreached, unengaged tribes.
Speaker 2: Jesus wants us to witness to all nations and to
Speaker 2: all people. He never made a person he did in love.
Speaker 2: He never made a person he didn't want saved. And
Speaker 2: Jesus died so that all may be saved. But people
Speaker 2: can't follow Jesus if they've never heard about him, and
Speaker 2: they've never heard of God's grace, how can they receive it?
Speaker 2: So I'm asking you to help me in this finishing
Speaker 2: the task project. Thank you for your support. You know,
Speaker 2: Daily Hope is now reaching over thirty four million people
Speaker 2: each month through Daily Hope, audio teachings and our email devotionals.
Speaker 2: But we're only able to do this because of your
Speaker 2: partnership with Daily Hope. We're working together to help us
Speaker 2: fulfill the great commission. Imagine when you get to heaven,
Speaker 2: somebody comes up to you and says, I just want
Speaker 2: to thank you. I'm here because you cared enough for
Speaker 2: someone like me. You prayed and you gave, and you shared,
Speaker 2: and you sacrificed, and I'm in heaven because of you.
Speaker 2: Will that be worth it? Even as we rejoice in
Speaker 2: the success, we need to remember that there's still billions
Speaker 2: of people who need to know Jesus and we got
Speaker 2: to keep going. So I'm asking you prayerfully to consider
Speaker 2: giving the biggest gift you've ever given, or that you
Speaker 2: can give before the end of this year. As I said,
Speaker 2: there's still about three thousand unreached people groups that have
Speaker 2: either few are no believers in them. We've been able
Speaker 2: to reach about six hundred of those tribes, making sure
Speaker 2: there's a Christian living among them who speaks their language
Speaker 2: and can help them understand the Bible. But that's just
Speaker 2: the first step. The truth is an unreached people group
Speaker 2: isn't considered reached until it has a healthy church, a
Speaker 2: body of Christ that's able to plant new churches within
Speaker 2: that group. So to help that happen, we're working on
Speaker 2: translating spiritual growth tools into about two hundred new languages
Speaker 2: for people who have virtually no Christian resources available. Think
Speaker 2: of all the Christian books you could buy at Christmas
Speaker 2: this year, Think of all the books you could pass
Speaker 2: on at birthdays. These are so available in English, but
Speaker 2: we need to translate them in all the other languages.
Speaker 2: These translations are strategic that we've selected once to share
Speaker 2: the gospel and to help disciple new believers where it
Speaker 2: is most needed right now.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: These resources are also going to help young pastors grow
Speaker 2: and train others to build the church in their nations
Speaker 2: and in their groups. Now, we've made a lot of
Speaker 2: good progress, but we got a lot of work ahead
Speaker 2: of us in this task. And it is a monumental vision.
Speaker 2: I can't do this by myself. I need your help.
Speaker 2: It's a timely vision, it's a global vision. But every
Speaker 2: vision listen requires provision. Honestly, we wouldn't be able to
Speaker 2: do any of this vision without you, and that's why
Speaker 2: I cannot fully express how much I appreciate your financial
Speaker 2: support of Daily Hope. You know I don't take a
Speaker 2: salary in this. This is all a ministry of love,
Speaker 2: and all of these funds are going to help reach
Speaker 2: more people. Now, let me give you some exciting news.
Speaker 2: A generous friend of Daily Hope has offered a one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars matching grant so that any gift you
Speaker 2: give by December thirty first this year will be doubled
Speaker 2: up to one hundred thousand dollars. That means every dollar
Speaker 2: you give to Daily Hope between now and the end
Speaker 2: of the year will be doubled. Would you please prayerfully
Speaker 2: consider how you can give today, how you can reach
Speaker 2: more people for Jesus in the coming year. And please,
Speaker 2: while you're at it, pray that I will faithfully teach
Speaker 2: God's word in a way that will penetrate hearts. Pray
Speaker 2: for our Daily Hope team as they coordinate our outreach,
Speaker 2: and most of all, pray for the people we're trying
Speaker 2: to reach, that their hearts will be prepared to hear
Speaker 2: the message of the good News of Christ and that
Speaker 2: they will come to know the grace of God and
Speaker 2: grow and mature in their Christian faith. You have a
Speaker 2: part of the most important task in history. Now, my
Speaker 2: prayer for you is that God's going to bless you
Speaker 2: throughout this coming year, and that He will bless you
Speaker 2: so much that you can be a blessing to others.
Speaker 2: You know we're blessed to be a blessing, and my
Speaker 2: prayers that He will draw you closer and closer to Him.
Speaker 2: God bless you.
Speaker 1: Remember, as Rick just shared, whatever you give today will
Speaker 1: be doubled by the matching grant up to one hundred
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, but only till midnight December thirty first. Anything
Speaker 1: not matched will be lost, So please contact us today
Speaker 1: call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four or
Speaker 1: go to Pastorrick dot com. That's eight hundred six hundred
Speaker 1: five thousand four or Pastorick dot com. There are only
Speaker 1: two days left to have your gift matched up to
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars, so don't wait. Be sure to
Speaker 1: join us again next time as we look into God's
Speaker 1: word for our daily hope. This program is sponsored by
Speaker 1: Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support