Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for joining us today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 1: the Bible Teaching Ministry of Rick Warren, and today we're
Speaker 1: continuing our series called that Habits of Happiness. In this series,
Speaker 1: Rick dives into the Book of Philippians and helps you
Speaker 1: discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. Okay, here's
Speaker 1: the final part of a message called how to keep
Speaker 1: from Stressing out?
Speaker 2: If I want to reduce the stress in my life,
Speaker 2: I worry about nothing, I pray about everything, I thank
Speaker 2: God in all things. And number four, I think about
Speaker 2: good things. I think about good things. Now this is
Speaker 2: extremely important because the stress and your war with stress
Speaker 2: in your life, that war, that battle is going on
Speaker 2: between your ears. The stress isn't out there, it's in here.
Speaker 2: It's inside. It's between your ears. The battle is in
Speaker 2: your brain. It's in your thought life. It's in your mind.
Speaker 2: And your war with stress or won or lost in
Speaker 2: your mind, and what you fill your mind with will
Speaker 2: determine the level of stress in your life. If you
Speaker 2: want peace of mind, now listen closely. If you want
Speaker 2: peace of mind, you're going to have to start controlling
Speaker 2: what you allow in it. Most people they just their
Speaker 2: mind's like a freeway. Anything can drive through it. And
Speaker 2: they fill their mind with poison and garbage and stuffing
Speaker 2: and all kinds of things. And you know, the mind
Speaker 2: is like a computer. It's gigo, garbage in, garbage out.
Speaker 2: Whatever you put.
Speaker 3: In your mind is going to come out in your life.
Speaker 2: And so they go and they see movies they shouldn't see,
Speaker 2: and they watch shows they shouldn't watch, and they read
Speaker 2: novels they should and they listen to gossip they shouldn't
Speaker 2: listen to, and they just let anything in their mind.
Speaker 2: Worry about water pollution, They worried about food pollution, they
Speaker 2: worry about air pollution, but they're not worried at all
Speaker 2: about mind pollution. And yet that's the most serious pollution.
Speaker 2: They said, well, I'm just trying to be open minded.
Speaker 2: Some people are so open minded their brains fall out,
Speaker 2: and they will allow anything into their lives and let it.
Speaker 2: Now here's what the Bible says, Philippians four eight. Fill
Speaker 2: your mind with those things that are true and good
Speaker 2: and right. Think about there it is fill your minth.
Speaker 2: Think about things that are pure and beautiful and respected.
Speaker 2: If anything is excellent, if anything is worthy of honor.
Speaker 3: Think about those things. Now.
Speaker 2: Notice the Bible gives us eight tests on whether we
Speaker 2: should allow something in our mind or not. He says,
Speaker 2: if you want to lower the stress, you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to change what you think about, in control what you
Speaker 2: allow into your mind. And the eight tests are before
Speaker 2: I listen to or watch or talk or say or
Speaker 2: hear this, I should say, is it true?
Speaker 3: Is it good? Is it right? Is it pure?
Speaker 2: Is it beautiful? Is it respected? Is it excellent? Is
Speaker 2: it worthy of honor? Now he says, here, think on
Speaker 2: things that are good and pure and right. Let me
Speaker 2: give you a verse to write down. Proverbs fourteen to nine.
Speaker 2: This isn't in your outline Proverbs fourteen nine, it's here
Speaker 2: on the screen. It says this, fools make fun of sin.
Speaker 2: That's foolish. That's foolish. Now, when you think about these
Speaker 2: things true, good, right, pure, beautiful, respected, excellent, worthy, you
Speaker 2: know what that is.
Speaker 3: It's a picture of God. And what he's really saying
Speaker 3: is think about God.
Speaker 2: Here's what Isaiah says. There on your outline, you Lord
Speaker 2: will keep in perfect peace. Wouldn't you like to live
Speaker 2: in perfect peace? Would you like to be less stressed?
Speaker 3: Out?
Speaker 2: You Lord, will keep in perfect peace all who trust
Speaker 2: in you, whose thoughts are fixed on.
Speaker 3: You.
Speaker 2: If you fix your thoughts on God, he says, I
Speaker 2: will keep you in perfect peace. You see, what you
Speaker 2: think about is going to determine how stressed and how
Speaker 2: worried you are. You know, I've told you the story
Speaker 2: of Corey tin Boom. Corey tin Boom was a Dutch
Speaker 2: Christian young woman during World War Two. Her family the
Speaker 2: ten Boom family. Her dad was a clockmaker and they
Speaker 2: lived in Amsterdam during World War two and they made
Speaker 2: a story that she wrote a book about and the
Speaker 2: actually made it movie of her life called The Hiding Place.
Speaker 2: And during World War Two, the ten Boom this Christian
Speaker 2: family took in Jewish friends and hid them in what
Speaker 2: was called the Hiding Place in their house for many
Speaker 2: years to prevent them from being captured by the Nazis
Speaker 2: and shipped off to death camps. One day, the Nazis
Speaker 2: found out and not only took the Jewish friends, but
Speaker 2: took Corey and her family and they went were taken
Speaker 2: to death camps in Poland and Corey lost her entire family.
Speaker 3: She was the only one that survived.
Speaker 2: And it's a very wonderful story, and in it she
Speaker 2: says something I've never forgotten. She said, if you look
Speaker 2: at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within,
Speaker 2: you'll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you'll
Speaker 2: be at rest. It all depends on what you have
Speaker 2: your eyes on. You know, people said, well look within,
Speaker 2: Well I did. I didn't like what I saw. I
Speaker 2: don't want to look. But then I want to look without.
Speaker 2: I want to look at God. I want to look
Speaker 2: at Christ. Think about good things. Now there's one other step.
Speaker 2: That's number five. Be content with anything. The Bible tells
Speaker 2: us to be content with anything. This is the fifth
Speaker 2: key to living a reduced stress life, where God says,
Speaker 2: if you do these things, you'll have God's peace in
Speaker 2: your life. Now, let me explain contentment, because a lot
Speaker 2: of people misunderstand the meaning of contentment. A lot of
Speaker 2: people think means content and means I have no ambition.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2: Paul who wrote this book, Remember, he's probably one of
Speaker 2: the most ambitious men who ever lived. He single handedly
Speaker 2: takes the good News the Gospel all across the Roman Empire.
Speaker 2: He's one of the most ambitious people ever. And he
Speaker 2: says I've learned to be content, so it has nothing
Speaker 2: to do with ambition. That's not contentment. Contentment is not laziness.
Speaker 2: Contentment is not apathy. Contentment is not complacency. Contentment is
Speaker 2: not fatalism. What will be will be case. Contentment is
Speaker 2: not lacking ambition. Content Here's what contentment is. It's enjoying
Speaker 2: what I have right now, rather than waiting for something
Speaker 2: else to happen in order for me to be happy.
Speaker 3: Does that make sense?
Speaker 2: It's enjoying what I've got right doesn't mean I don't
Speaker 2: want to progress, doesn't mean I don't have goals.
Speaker 3: The Bible says you should have goals.
Speaker 2: It means I'm not waiting for something to happen in
Speaker 2: my life in order to be happy. Contentment is the
Speaker 2: opposite of coveting. Coveting is when and then thinking, when
Speaker 2: this happens, then i'll be happy. When this happens, then
Speaker 2: i'll be happy. And when that happens, then I'll be happy.
Speaker 2: That's when and then thinking. Contentment is actually independence from circumstances.
Speaker 2: It means my joy is not connected to what's happening
Speaker 2: in my life right now. My joy, my happiness is
Speaker 2: not based on my happenings. It's not based on my circumstances.
Speaker 2: It means I've learned to enjoy whatever I've got right now,
Speaker 2: and I'm not waiting for something or someone to make
Speaker 2: me happy.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Here's what Paul says in the next two verses, verse
Speaker 2: eleven twelve. He says, I've learned. I've learned to be
Speaker 2: content circle the word learned. Contentment is not natural. I'm
Speaker 2: about my nature content. You're not by nature content. You
Speaker 2: have to learn it, just like you have to unlearn
Speaker 2: worry and you have to learn happiness.
Speaker 3: You have to learn.
Speaker 2: Contentment, something that we get educated on. I've learned to
Speaker 2: be content whatever the circumstances, he says, I know how
Speaker 2: to live on almost nothing, or I know how to
Speaker 2: live with everything. And in the original Greek here he
Speaker 2: said I know how to live in poverty and I
Speaker 2: know how to live in luxury.
Speaker 3: I know them both. I know how to be happy.
Speaker 2: And either in poverty and luxury and nothing or with everything,
Speaker 2: I've learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether
Speaker 2: I'm well fed or hungry, or whether I have more
Speaker 2: than I need or when I don't have enough. Now,
Speaker 2: he says there I have learned to be content. How
Speaker 2: do I learn contentment? Let me give you a couple
Speaker 2: of three ways. You might just write these down. They're
Speaker 2: not in your notes, so just write them down. The
Speaker 2: first way you learn contentment is this, stop comparing. Stop comparing.
Speaker 2: That's so important because the source of all discontent is comparison.
Speaker 2: I remember many, many years ago, when I was a
Speaker 2: little boy and got up on Christmas morning and my
Speaker 2: parents had given me the gift of my lifetime, a
Speaker 2: Stingray bicycle.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, these butterfly handles get your motor runing banana.
Speaker 2: I thought it was so cool, and I thought I
Speaker 2: was so cool until I saw my neighbor got a
Speaker 2: better one, and my happiness went out the door. Now,
Speaker 2: the Bible tells us over and over and over it's
Speaker 2: foolish to compare yourself to anybody else.
Speaker 3: Why Two reasons.
Speaker 2: One, you're always gonna find somebody who's doing a better
Speaker 2: job than you, and somebody who.
Speaker 3: Has more than you, and you're gonna get discouraged.
Speaker 2: Two you're always gonna find somebody you're doing a better
Speaker 2: job then, and you have more then, and you get
Speaker 2: full of pride. Either way, you're dead in the water.
Speaker 2: God takes you out of the game and you sit
Speaker 2: on the sidelines for the rest of the game. Discouragement
Speaker 2: and pride are the two things that take you, knock you.
Speaker 3: Out of life. So he says, don't do that. God says,
Speaker 3: I called you to be you. I made you to
Speaker 3: be you. If you don't be you, who's gonna be you?
Speaker 2: When you get to heaven, God is gonna say, why
Speaker 2: weren't you more like your sister, or why weren't you
Speaker 2: more like your mom or your dad?
Speaker 3: Or what God didn't? Why don't you be you? I
Speaker 3: made you to be you.
Speaker 2: Most of us start off as originals and end up
Speaker 2: as carbon copies. God never makes copies of anything.
Speaker 3: No two snowflakes are like. No two human beings are like.
Speaker 2: You have a unique thumb print, handprint, voice print, footprint, ieprint.
Speaker 3: You are unique.
Speaker 2: Even identical twins aren't really identical. They're different in millions
Speaker 2: of ways. God never makes a repeat. God man makes clones.
Speaker 2: God never makes clones. When God made you, he broke
Speaker 2: the mold. God wants you to be you, And if
Speaker 2: you don't be you, who's gonna be you? And so
Speaker 2: he says, stop comparing and when you because when you compare,
Speaker 2: you get jealous and you get envious. Now, the Bible
Speaker 2: says this, look at this verse on your outline. Peace
Speaker 2: of mind makes the body healthy. But envy is like
Speaker 2: a cancer. In other words, it.
Speaker 3: Eats you up. It will eat you alive if you
Speaker 3: get envious.
Speaker 2: Now that phrase peace of mind makes the body healthy.
Speaker 2: Phrase that word piece of mind. Actually another translation is
Speaker 2: the word contentment. Contentment makes the body healthy. So stop comparing.
Speaker 2: Here's a second little tip for learning contentment. Stop thinking
Speaker 2: that having more is better. You see, there are three
Speaker 2: myths that we're taught by advertising in society. Having more
Speaker 2: will make me more happy, having more will make me
Speaker 2: more important, Having more will make me more secure.
Speaker 3: None of those are true. They're all lies.
Speaker 2: Having more will not make you more happy, having more
Speaker 2: will not make you more valuable, And having more will
Speaker 2: not make.
Speaker 3: You more secure. In the first place, you can lose
Speaker 3: it all. You can use billions.
Speaker 2: You can lose a billion dollars in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2: And your value is not based on your valuables, and
Speaker 2: your net worth is not based on your self. Worth
Speaker 2: is not based on your net worth. It's based on
Speaker 2: who You are not what you own. So stop thinking
Speaker 2: that having more will make me more happy, having more
Speaker 2: will make me more important, having more will make me
Speaker 2: more secure.
Speaker 3: None of those are true.
Speaker 2: You need to find your security in something that can
Speaker 2: never be taken from you.
Speaker 3: Well, I can't.
Speaker 2: If I put my security in my job, it can
Speaker 2: be taken from me. If I put security in my
Speaker 2: bank account, I can lose that. If I put my
Speaker 2: security in my health, I can lose that, or my
Speaker 2: good looks I can lose that. It has to put
Speaker 2: security and something can't be taken from me, and that
Speaker 2: is my relationship to God. I'll never forget Victor Frankel
Speaker 2: standing in a death camp. If you've never read his book,
Speaker 2: A Man Search for Me, It's terrific book. And he says,
Speaker 2: you know, they stripped me naked, they took away everything,
Speaker 2: including my wedding ring. And then he said, I realized
Speaker 2: that there was one thing that could never be taken
Speaker 2: away from me, my ability to choose my response. You
Speaker 2: cannot control everything that happens in your life, but you
Speaker 2: can't choose how you respond. That's your freedom. Now here's
Speaker 2: what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes chapter four it's better to
Speaker 2: only have a little with peace of mind than to
Speaker 2: be busy all the time with both hands trying to
Speaker 2: catch the wind. That's what I call the saddleback Center.
Speaker 2: We go out and we buy things we can't afford
Speaker 2: with money, we don't have to impress people we don't
Speaker 2: even like, and then we get in debt. We have
Speaker 2: to become workaholics to pay for all the things we've bought.
Speaker 2: And if you own something and God told you to
Speaker 2: give it away, you don't own it. It owns you.
Speaker 2: A lot of people are possessed by their possessions. There's
Speaker 2: nothing wrong with possessions, nothing wrong with them, but unless
Speaker 2: you make it your God, and you cannot be possessed
Speaker 2: by your possessions.
Speaker 3: And he said, you know, if your.
Speaker 2: Whole life is trying to work harder to pay for stuff,
Speaker 2: he says, you're missing the point. A third day and
Speaker 2: I'll end with this is learn to learn to admire
Speaker 2: without having to acquire. I've found this personally fun for me.
Speaker 2: Learn to admire without having to acquire. In other words,
Speaker 2: I have learned that I don't have to own it
Speaker 2: in order to enjoy it. The fact is with ownership
Speaker 2: ownership's a lot.
Speaker 3: Of pain a lot of the times.
Speaker 2: I mean, you got to insure it, you got to
Speaker 2: maintain it, you gotta store it, you gotta haul it.
Speaker 3: I mean, let me give you an example.
Speaker 2: My family and my kids and my grandkids, we like
Speaker 2: the jet ski and we like to go down to
Speaker 2: Mission Bay in San Diego, particularly in jet ski We've
Speaker 2: done on several vacations, will go jet skiing. And because
Speaker 2: we've done this a lot as a family, I've offer thought, well,
Speaker 2: maybe I should go buy some jet skis, And then
Speaker 2: why in the world would I do that? I mean,
Speaker 2: then I got to insure it. Then I gotta maintain it.
Speaker 2: Then I gotta store it. Then I got to haul
Speaker 2: it back and forth. You know, if it's just down there,
Speaker 2: I go down there and use it.
Speaker 3: Rent it for an hour or two. I'm going to
Speaker 3: give you a true confession. I know it's going to
Speaker 3: shock you.
Speaker 2: I have never spent one hour of my life scraping
Speaker 2: barnacles off my boat.
Speaker 3: Because I don't know one.
Speaker 2: I just use yours. You gotta lodge it aspen. I'll
Speaker 2: jump up and down on your bed. You can ensure it,
Speaker 2: maintain it, and store it, and haul it and learn
Speaker 2: to admire without having to acquire.
Speaker 3: Learn that I don't.
Speaker 2: Have to own it to enjoy it. That's part of contentment. Now,
Speaker 2: these five strategies that I've just mean, they're very easy
Speaker 2: for me to explain, but they're very hard to do.
Speaker 2: It's not easy to worry about nothing. It's not easy
Speaker 2: to pray about everything. It's not easy to thank God
Speaker 2: in everything. It's not easy to think about good things,
Speaker 2: and it's not easy to be content with anything. So
Speaker 2: where in the world am I gonna get the energy
Speaker 2: to do these things that reduce the stress in my life?
Speaker 3: God says this, You come to me.
Speaker 2: You come to me, and I will give you the
Speaker 2: power and the ability to do what will help you
Speaker 2: do what is best for you. Paul ends this passage
Speaker 2: with verse thirteen. One of the most famous verses in
Speaker 2: the Bible is verse thirteen. I have the strength to
Speaker 2: face anything and everything by the power that Christ gives me.
Speaker 2: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
Speaker 2: I can worry about nothing when Christ strengthens me. I
Speaker 2: can pray about everything when Christ strengthens me. I can
Speaker 2: thank God in everything and all things. When Christ strengthens me.
Speaker 2: I can keep my mind on the right thing when
Speaker 2: God strengthens me, and I can be content with anything
Speaker 2: when Christ strengthens me. What we're talking to here is
Speaker 2: not about a religion. Religion about a relationship. You may
Speaker 2: be Buddhist, you may be a Baptist. You may be
Speaker 2: a Catholic or Protestant or Jewish, I mean, Muslim, or Mormon,
Speaker 2: or no religion at all. God has never made a
Speaker 2: person he doesn't love. God has never made a person
Speaker 2: he didn't die for. God has never made a person
Speaker 2: he doesn't have a purpose for. And he says, if
Speaker 2: you'll come to me, I will help you. I'm going
Speaker 2: to close this last verse job twenty two. Verse twenty
Speaker 2: one says this obey God and be at peace with him.
Speaker 2: This is the way to happiness.
Speaker 3: You see.
Speaker 2: The real reason you're not at peace is because you're
Speaker 2: at war with God. And until you make your peace
Speaker 2: with God, that's what the Bible says God sent Jesus
Speaker 2: to do, is to make peace with God for us.
Speaker 2: When you make peace with God, then you get the
Speaker 2: peace of God, and then you can have peace with others.
Speaker 2: They're not going to be peace in the world till
Speaker 2: the Prince of Peace.
Speaker 3: Is reigning in our hearts.
Speaker 2: So in order for you to have the peace of God,
Speaker 2: you have to first have the peace with God. And
Speaker 2: let's close of that, let's bow our heads. Would you
Speaker 2: bow your heads with me? And I'm going to lead
Speaker 2: you in a prayer. My blessing on you this week
Speaker 2: is Romans fifteen thirty three. It says, I pray that God,
Speaker 2: who gives peace, will be with you. So would you
Speaker 2: pray this simple prayer. It doesn't really matter what your
Speaker 2: words you say. If you just say, as I say this,
Speaker 2: you say me to God, me too, say, Dear God,
Speaker 2: I don't really want to be stressed out. I want
Speaker 2: to learn the habits of happiness. And you have promised
Speaker 2: that if I do these things, I will experience your peace.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna hold you at your word. Now.
Speaker 2: I don't have the strength to do these so Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: I need you to give me that strength.
Speaker 3: Help me to worry about nothing.
Speaker 2: To remember it's unreasonable and unnatural and unhelpful and unnecessary.
Speaker 3: You're gonna take care of me.
Speaker 2: Dear God, help me to worry about nothing, and Dear God,
Speaker 2: help me to pray about everything instead of talking to
Speaker 2: myself to talk to you. Help me to thank God
Speaker 2: in all things. Help me to think about the good
Speaker 2: things and God, I ask you to help me to
Speaker 2: be content with anything.
Speaker 3: God. I want to have.
Speaker 2: Peace with you so I can have the peace of God.
Speaker 3: Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: I don't understand it all, but as much as I
Speaker 2: know how, I say yes to you. I don't want
Speaker 2: a religion. I want a relationship. I just want to
Speaker 2: get to know you.
Speaker 3: And so I.
Speaker 2: Open my heart as humbly God, I say, make yourself
Speaker 2: real to me, and I pray this in your name.
Speaker 3: Amen.
Speaker 4: What a great message from Pastor Rick today. There's something
Speaker 4: I always take away from his message. Here's Rick to
Speaker 4: tell you how you can help support this ministry.
Speaker 2: Jesus told his disciples that they should live their lives
Speaker 2: according to five specific purposes. He said, you've got to
Speaker 2: love God with all your heart. That's worship, and love
Speaker 2: your neighbors yourself. That's ministry. That's called the Great Commandment.
Speaker 2: And then Jesus said, go make disciples, that's evangelism, Baptize
Speaker 2: them into the Family of God. That's fellowship, a sign
Speaker 2: of fellowship. And then he said, teach them obey everything
Speaker 2: I've taught you, that's discipleship, and we call that the
Speaker 2: Great Commission. We believe it Daily Hope, that a great
Speaker 2: commitment to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission will
Speaker 2: produce a great Christian, a great church, a great company,
Speaker 2: a great community.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I started Daily Hope so I could spread the good
Speaker 2: news about Jesus, not just across America, but all around
Speaker 2: the world. And we want people to know that God's
Speaker 2: word is filled with hope and truth and the power
Speaker 2: that we need to follow him every day is available
Speaker 2: to every single one. You know as well as I do,
Speaker 2: that the Word of God changes lives. It's a live
Speaker 2: it's active, and it breathes new life and new love
Speaker 2: into all of our lives. So wherever you listen to this,
Speaker 2: whether you listen on the website, whether you listen on
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Speaker 2: you're a part of the Daily Hope family, and I
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Speaker 2: We're one hundred percent listener funded. Would you continue to
Speaker 2: pray for this broadcast and would you continue to support us.
Speaker 3: And let write to me, let me hear from you.
Speaker 2: I absolutely love reading the stories that are sent to me.
Speaker 2: So write me, pray for me, and support this ministry,
Speaker 2: and God will bless it, and God will bless you,
Speaker 2: and we'll get to heaven, and we'll thank God for
Speaker 2: all the people going to be in heaven because you cared.
Speaker 4: Hey, if you'd like to support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope,
Speaker 4: just go to pastor rick dot com. That's pastorrick dot com,
Speaker 4: or you can text the word hope to seven oh
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