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 the 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, and
Speaker 1: now here's part one of a message called happiness can
Speaker 1: be Learned.
Speaker 2: Many people think that happiness is simply a matter of luck,
Speaker 2: and they think if you're happy, you're just lucky. You
Speaker 2: got lucky, you had happy circumstances, and so congratulations for you.
Speaker 2: But actually, happiness can be learned. It is a quality
Speaker 2: that you can learn. There are certain qualities that if
Speaker 2: you learn them, your happiness in life is going to
Speaker 2: go up exponentially. If you don't have these qualities in
Speaker 2: your life, your unhappiness will go up exponentially. Now, you
Speaker 2: probably never thought about this, but if I miss it
Speaker 2: to you, you automatically know what I'm talking about, because
Speaker 2: you could instinctively pick out qualities that cause you to
Speaker 2: be happy and qualities that cause you to be unhappy.
Speaker 2: For instance, if we made two columns, the happiness column
Speaker 2: and the unhappiness column. And I said, now which column?
Speaker 2: Would impatience go in unhappiness? Yeah, impatient people tend to
Speaker 2: be unhappy people. Would you agree with that? And the
Speaker 2: more patient you are, if you learn patience, you're going
Speaker 2: to be happier in life. That obviously makes sense. If
Speaker 2: I said, for instance, cruelty, that would go in the
Speaker 2: unhappiness column, kindness would go on the happiness column. This
Speaker 2: is kind of obvious, and we could make an entire
Speaker 2: list if I said, if I'm arrogant, I'm going to
Speaker 2: tend to be unhappy, and if I am humble, I'm
Speaker 2: going to tend to be more happy. So what we're
Speaker 2: going to do this weekend as we go through the
Speaker 2: Book of Philippians is look at four very important qualities
Speaker 2: you need to build it in your life. Now, happiness
Speaker 2: is a serious business, and if you really want to
Speaker 2: be happy, then you need to build these qualities in
Speaker 2: your life. We're starting in Chapter two of Philippians, verses
Speaker 2: nineteen down to verse thirty. Let me read it to
Speaker 2: you and then we'll we'll look at it. Paul says this,
Speaker 2: I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to
Speaker 2: you soon. Now let me stop her and remind you
Speaker 2: of the background. Paul is in prison in Rome. He's
Speaker 2: writing a letter to a church in Greece, in a
Speaker 2: city called Philippi, so we call it the Philippian Letter.
Speaker 2: And Paul is writing to these church members of a
Speaker 2: church he started in Greece, and they have been sending
Speaker 2: him care packages. They've been They actually send him an
Speaker 2: offering while he was in prison waiting to appeal his
Speaker 2: execution before Caesar, who was Nero in Rome at the time.
Speaker 2: And Paul is writing back to the Philippians. And this
Speaker 2: book is actually a thank you letter. It is a
Speaker 2: thank you letter for a financial gift. And in the
Speaker 2: middle of this letter he gives some personal information. So
Speaker 2: let me say it. Read it again. I hope in
Speaker 2: the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so
Speaker 2: that I may be cheered when I received news about you.
Speaker 2: I have no one else like him. This is Timothy,
Speaker 2: who takes a genuine interest in your welfare, for everybody
Speaker 2: else looks after his own interest, not those of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: But you know that Timothy has proved himself because as
Speaker 2: a son with his father, he has served with me
Speaker 2: in the work of the Gospel, the good News. I
Speaker 2: hope therefore to send him Timothy as soon as I
Speaker 2: can see how things go with me, and I'm confident
Speaker 2: that I myself will come soon. In other words, I
Speaker 2: hope I'm going to get out of jail and come
Speaker 2: back to see you in Philippi. But he's says, I
Speaker 2: think it is necessary to also send back to you Epaphriditis.
Speaker 2: That's a long Greek name for a man. But that's
Speaker 2: another guy like Timothy, Paphforditis, my brother, my fellow worker,
Speaker 2: and my fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom
Speaker 2: you sent to me to take care of my needs.
Speaker 2: When the Philippians sent a financial gift to help Paul
Speaker 2: always in prison Rome, they send it to a guy
Speaker 2: named Apaphroditis, and he says, I'm going to send this
Speaker 2: guy back to you, for he longs for all of
Speaker 2: you because this was his home church. And he's distressed
Speaker 2: because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill,
Speaker 2: and he almost died in trying to get to Paul
Speaker 2: on that trip to Rome. But God had mercy on him,
Speaker 2: and not only on him, but also on me, to
Speaker 2: spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I am all the
Speaker 2: more eager to send him back to you, so that
Speaker 2: when you see him again, you may be glad, and
Speaker 2: I maybe have they have less anxiety. So welcome him
Speaker 2: in the Lord with great joy and honor men like him,
Speaker 2: because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking
Speaker 2: his life to make up for the help you could
Speaker 2: not give me. Now, at a first glance, that doesn't
Speaker 2: seem to be a very deep passage. You're going it
Speaker 2: sounds like Paul's talking about two guys that are with
Speaker 2: him in Rome that he's going to send back to Greece.
Speaker 2: And when you read this letter, you might ask, why
Speaker 2: in the world did God include that in the Bible.
Speaker 2: I mean, why is that even there. It's just a
Speaker 2: personal note about two guys the church that the Philippi
Speaker 2: knows and that Paul knows, and they've helped each other.
Speaker 2: And and you might think, you know, this is one
Speaker 2: of those passages in the Bible just kind of read
Speaker 2: over real quick and just get to the good parts,
Speaker 2: and you would be wrong. You would be wrong, because
Speaker 2: the Bible says everything in the Bible is there to
Speaker 2: teach us by exams, and in this passage that I
Speaker 2: just read, you are the examples of the four things
Speaker 2: you must build into your life if you want to
Speaker 2: really be happy, if you want to live consistently happy.
Speaker 2: Now he has an example of these four choices that
Speaker 2: leads to happiness in these two guys named Timothy and Epaphroditis.
Speaker 2: Now here's the background. Paul intends to send two guys
Speaker 2: who are with him in Rome while he's there in prison,
Speaker 2: back to the Philippian Church. And he says in verse nineteen,
Speaker 2: I'm going to send you Timothy, And in verse twenty
Speaker 2: five he says, I'm going to send back to you Paphorditis,
Speaker 2: who's a member of your church. And then Paul endorses
Speaker 2: these two guys as role models. He says in verse
Speaker 2: twenty of Timothy, I got nobody else like him. Now,
Speaker 2: let me just stop right there for a minute. If Paul,
Speaker 2: the apostle who wrote most of the New Testament, says
Speaker 2: I don't know anybody like him in the whole world,
Speaker 2: you better pay attention to this guy. When Paul says
Speaker 2: I don't have anybody in my life like Timothy, then
Speaker 2: you better pay attention to him. In fact, two of
Speaker 2: the books of the Bible are called first and second,
Speaker 2: Timothy written to this guy, so he's a very important character.
Speaker 2: He says, I don't anybody like him. And then he
Speaker 2: says about the other guy, Paphroditis, he says, I want
Speaker 2: you to welcome him when I send him, and honor
Speaker 2: him because he nearly died. He nearly died for my sake. Now,
Speaker 2: Paul says, and here's the reason why we're looking in
Speaker 2: this series on the habits of happiness. Paul says, I'm
Speaker 2: going to send these guys to you for three reasons.
Speaker 2: And he says this. He said in verse nineteen, so
Speaker 2: that I may be cheered, so that I can be happy.
Speaker 2: And then in verse twenty eight he says, so that
Speaker 2: you may be happy, so you may be glad, you
Speaker 2: may be happy. And then he says in verse twenty eight,
Speaker 2: so that I may have less anxiety. So whatever these
Speaker 2: guys are doing, however they are living, it's a way
Speaker 2: that's gonna make you glad, it's gonna make me glad,
Speaker 2: and it's gonna make us all have less anxiety. Now,
Speaker 2: as your pastor, I want you to be happy, I
Speaker 2: want me to be happy, and I want us all
Speaker 2: to have less anxiety. So we're gonna look at this passage.
Speaker 2: Does that make sense? And I'm gonna say, what is
Speaker 2: it about these two guys that are so worthy? They're
Speaker 2: in the Bible in a little footnote that looks like
Speaker 2: kind of like just a personal hey, I'm sending these guys,
Speaker 2: he says, in the Living Bible. These guys will make
Speaker 2: me happy and lighten my cares. Now, what this passage
Speaker 2: teaches us is that there are four qualities you need
Speaker 2: to have in your life in order for your happiness
Speaker 2: to go up and for the happiness of people around
Speaker 2: you to go up too. And the first thing that
Speaker 2: you have to learn is this. You're gonna have to learn.
Speaker 2: Write this down to shift the focus away from myself.
Speaker 2: That is the starting point for all happiness. I must
Speaker 2: shift the focus away from myself. I have to care
Speaker 2: about more than just me. I've got to care about
Speaker 2: the needs of those around me. If all I think
Speaker 2: about is me, me me, me, me, me me, me, myself,
Speaker 2: an I I'm going to be a pretty miserable person.
Speaker 2: If I truly want to be happy in life, I've
Speaker 2: got to move the focus off myself. Now. Paul gives
Speaker 2: Timothy as an example of this. In verse twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: he says this, I have nobody else like him who
Speaker 2: takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everybody else
Speaker 2: looks out for his own interest. Would you say that's
Speaker 2: true today? Of most people, everybody looks out for their
Speaker 2: own interest. Not that many people are looking after your interest.
Speaker 2: Could you name the people are looking after your interest?
Speaker 2: Not many. Most people are looking after their own interest,
Speaker 2: not yours. And as as naturally, I tend to look
Speaker 2: at my own interest, I don't tend to look at
Speaker 2: your interest. I don't get up in the morning and think, hmm,
Speaker 2: I wonder if you're having a hard time today. Now
Speaker 2: I'm always thinking about me. You tend to think about you.
Speaker 2: Paul says, I've got nobody like this guy because he
Speaker 2: actually takes a genuine interest in you, not simply in himself.
Speaker 2: Everybody else looks out for his own interest. And noticing
Speaker 2: that phrase there, he says, no one else, No one
Speaker 2: else is like In other words, unselfish people are very
Speaker 2: very rare. Nobody else is liking he says, who takes
Speaker 2: a genuine interest. There are many people who fake interest
Speaker 2: in you. It's so funny. Sometimes I go to these
Speaker 2: parties and or these important diplomatic events, and people are
Speaker 2: standing there talking to you, and they've got one of
Speaker 2: these little you know, toast at things and a drink
Speaker 2: in their hands, and they're not they're talking to you,
Speaker 2: but the whole time they're looking over your show, like
Speaker 2: is there anybody else more important I should be talking to?
Speaker 2: They're pretending to take an interest in me, but they're
Speaker 2: not really did me. They're looking over who else could
Speaker 2: I talk to instead of this guy? Because they don't.
Speaker 2: They're pretending that. He says that he takes a genuine interest.
Speaker 2: A good News translation says he genuinely cares about you.
Speaker 2: Others care only about themselves. And then once you circle
Speaker 2: the phrase, it says, looks out everyone else looks out
Speaker 2: for his own interest. Circle that phrase, looks out. What
Speaker 2: we're talking about here is a matter of focus. The
Speaker 2: first key to happiness is you've got to change your focus.
Speaker 2: You have to shift your focus away from yourself onto
Speaker 2: other people. You gotta look out for others. Now, do
Speaker 2: you normally do that? Not? Normally. That's something you have
Speaker 2: to learn to do. When you walk into a room,
Speaker 2: you're not normally thinking who in this room needs my help.
Speaker 2: You walk into the room, look, look and think, how
Speaker 2: do I look? That's what you do. You walk in
Speaker 2: and go how do I look? You know? Am I
Speaker 2: put together just right? And you have to intentionally train
Speaker 2: yourself to do the opposite, to shift the focus away
Speaker 2: from myself the Phillips translations versus they're not People aren't
Speaker 2: interested in you. They're all wrapped up in their own affairs.
Speaker 2: Circle that phrase wrapped up. For those of you who
Speaker 2: are single adults, let me just give you a little
Speaker 2: fatherly advice. It's better to sit at home without a date,
Speaker 2: then go date somebody who's all wrapped up in themselves.
Speaker 2: Single women, A man wrapped up in himself is no gift. Guys.
Speaker 2: A woman wrapped up in herself is no gift, he says.
Speaker 2: They're wrapped up in their own affairs, so they're not caring,
Speaker 2: they're not looking out for the needs of others. Now,
Speaker 2: I think confession is good for the soul. Oh, I
Speaker 2: have to admit to you that it saddens me how
Speaker 2: many times I have missed the needs around me of
Speaker 2: people that I love. I just totally missed them because
Speaker 2: I wasn't paying attention. I just wasn't paying attention. I
Speaker 2: wasn't looking out. I hadn't shifted the focus from me
Speaker 2: to the others in the room. And when I wasn't
Speaker 2: looking out for their needs, I missed their needs. And
Speaker 2: that grieves me a lot. Philippins two four. We looked
Speaker 2: at this verse last week, but I love it the
Speaker 2: message paraphrase. It says, here, don't be so obsessed with
Speaker 2: getting your own advantage, forget yourself long enough to lend
Speaker 2: a helping hand. If you did that, you think you'd
Speaker 2: be happier. Yes you would, Yes you would. You See,
Speaker 2: this isn't easy to do because everything in our culture
Speaker 2: and everything in our nature teaches to be self centered,
Speaker 2: and America is becoming more and more self centered. I
Speaker 2: read a report this week in Psychology, a scientific journal,
Speaker 2: that said they studied one million books in print over
Speaker 2: the last two hundred years in American history, and they
Speaker 2: compared the words that were used then in the words
Speaker 2: are used now, and the words that have increased in
Speaker 2: number today are I, me, my choice, unique, special, These
Speaker 2: words are being overused today. Words you don't hear much.
Speaker 2: They are responsibility and prayer. Okay, those words that were
Speaker 2: used a lot in the past, we're increasingly becoming more
Speaker 2: self centered. In fact, I thought I'd just show you
Speaker 2: a few ads that illustrate this, because we don't realize
Speaker 2: how we're being brainwashed. Now. This first ad here on
Speaker 2: the screen is a Coca Cola ad that says that
Speaker 2: happiness is something you drink. It says, here's a coke bottle,
Speaker 2: says open happiness. So if you just buy that product,
Speaker 2: you drink it, then you will be happy. Happiness is
Speaker 2: something you drink. Now, Audi came out with one that
Speaker 2: says not only that joy is something you drive, and
Speaker 2: it says, there joy finally has meaning. That's good to know.
Speaker 2: And what is it? You know? It's an AUDI that
Speaker 2: is an audacious goal? Is what that is? Right there? ADDI.
Speaker 2: Now what Pepsi tells us is this all that matters
Speaker 2: is today? Live for now an others. Don't plan about tomorrow,
Speaker 2: don't care about other people, just live for now. And
Speaker 2: Sprite tells us this, obey your thirst, okay, in other words,
Speaker 2: give in to any urge you have. Okay. You're hearing
Speaker 2: these message subliminal. It's all about you, It's all about you.
Speaker 2: It's all about you. Burger King have it your way,
Speaker 2: have it your way. Well, that's about us, you know.
Speaker 2: Now that's not bad advice when you're ordering a hamburger,
Speaker 2: but that's terrible advice for relationships. Here's a perfume product,
Speaker 2: it's all about me. Yeah, yeah, it's all about me.
Speaker 2: And then for smart counter culture programming or or you know, positioning,
Speaker 2: the donut company did this one. I love donuts because
Speaker 2: they're not self centered at all, little counter culture spin
Speaker 2: on advertising. The bottom line is everything in culture teaches
Speaker 2: you to think about you yu u yu you me
Speaker 2: me me me me I I I, And so I
Speaker 2: have to intentionally shift the focus away if I want
Speaker 2: to be happy. Number two. The second thing you're going
Speaker 2: to need to learn to be happy is this. If
Speaker 2: you want to be happy, you're going to have to
Speaker 2: become someone that people trust. You're going to have to
Speaker 2: become someone that people trust. Proverbs thirteen fifteen says those
Speaker 2: who can't be trusted are on the road to ruin. Now,
Speaker 2: it's really obvious that the more people trust you, the
Speaker 2: happier you're going to be. And if people don't trust you,
Speaker 2: you're not going to be happy. If nobody trusts you,
Speaker 2: you're living a pretty miserable life. So here's another quality
Speaker 2: you can learn. If you learn to be trustworthy, you
Speaker 2: learn to be reliable, you learn to be consistent, you
Speaker 2: learn to be dependable, and you develop that quality in
Speaker 2: your life, you're going to be a whole lot happier
Speaker 2: than people who aren't worthy of trust. If you want
Speaker 2: to be happy, you got to become somebody that people trust.
Speaker 2: Now again, Paul uses Timothy as an example of this
Speaker 2: verse twenty two. He says, Timothy has proven himself because
Speaker 2: as a son with his father, he served with me
Speaker 2: in the work of the gospel. Now again, he's given
Speaker 2: this guy as an example, and he says, I've watched
Speaker 2: this guy in action. I've seen this Timothy. I've seen
Speaker 2: him in all kinds of circumstances. And he says, this guy, Timothy,
Speaker 2: he's the real deal. He's the real McCoy. He's authentic,
Speaker 2: he's genuine, he's trustworthy, he's dependable, he's reliable. You can
Speaker 2: count on this guy. God's word translation says, you know
Speaker 2: what kind of person Timothy proved to be. Do people
Speaker 2: know what kind of person you really are? And are
Speaker 2: you trustworthy? If you're not, then you're not very happy
Speaker 2: because the more people trust you, the more your happiness
Speaker 2: goes up. Now, he says, about this guy, Timothy, he's
Speaker 2: proven trustworthy. He has been proven, he has been proved
Speaker 2: over time, tested, verified, checked out. He is credible, he
Speaker 2: is creditable. You know, anytime you go to a bank
Speaker 2: for a loan, before they loan you any money, they're
Speaker 2: going to do a thing on you called a credit check,
Speaker 2: a credit check, and they're gonna say, are you worthy
Speaker 2: of being trusted with credit? Are you creditable? Do you
Speaker 2: pay your bills back? Are you paying them back on time?
Speaker 2: Do you have a track record of keeping your word?
Speaker 2: Do you have a track record of doing what you say?
Speaker 2: Can you be dependent on that if we loan you
Speaker 2: this money, you're not going to flake out on us
Speaker 2: and we're going to lose it. They do a credit
Speaker 2: check on you to see if you are credible or
Speaker 2: credit worthy. Now, I want to tell you a little secret.
Speaker 2: Everybody around you is doing a credit check on your
Speaker 2: life every moment of your life. Not just the banks,
Speaker 2: but everybody around you is constantly doing a credit check
Speaker 2: on you. Are you what you say you are? Are
Speaker 2: you the real deal? Are you just some phony Bologna.
Speaker 2: You wear a mask here and wear a mask over here.
Speaker 2: You know, That's what they used to do in the
Speaker 2: Greek theater. One actor would play many parts, and he'd
Speaker 2: come out and he'd wear a mask, and he'd play
Speaker 2: a part, and they'd go back behind the stage. This
Speaker 2: is the days of Plato. He'd get another mask. He'd
Speaker 2: come out and he'd wear that mask, and he'd play
Speaker 2: a part and he'd go back. And so he's wearing
Speaker 2: he's being different roles to different groups of people, playing
Speaker 2: different parts. Same guy, but wearing different masks. And the
Speaker 2: word for that guy in Greek is called a hippocretos.
Speaker 2: That's where we get the word hypocrite. Hypocrite means somebody
Speaker 2: who he acts this way on the golf course and
Speaker 2: this way with his kids, and this way at church,
Speaker 2: and that way with his wife, and you don't really know.
Speaker 2: Is what you see? What you get? He's saying, you
Speaker 2: know the kind of person Timothy was. He proved, he
Speaker 2: was checked out, he got a credit reference done. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're going to be happy, you got to learn
Speaker 2: to be consistent. You got to learn to be dependable, trustworthy, reliable.
Speaker 2: How do you develop a reputation for reliability. Two things.
Speaker 2: Write them down. The Bible tells us number one, live
Speaker 2: with integrity. Live with integrity. And what I mean by
Speaker 2: that is make sure that my actions match my words.
Speaker 2: I don't talk a good game and then live another
Speaker 2: different way. No, he says, what you see is what
Speaker 2: you get. Integrity doesn't mean you're perfect. If perfection was
Speaker 2: required for integrity, none of us have integrity because nobody's perfect.
Speaker 2: We're all flawed. But integrity means what you see is
Speaker 2: what you get. It's the real deal. Make sure my
Speaker 2: actions match my words. Pubbers twenty five thirteen says this,
Speaker 2: reliable friends who do what they say are like a
Speaker 2: cool drink, or like cool drinks and sweltering heat refreshing,
Speaker 2: not a great verse. So that's the you know, can
Speaker 2: people count on you? Or do you flip flop? Are
Speaker 2: you two faced? You're wishy washy, look at the opposite.
Speaker 2: Proverbs twenty five nineteen says this, Putting confidence in an
Speaker 2: unreliable person is like chewing with a toothache or walking
Speaker 2: on a broken foot. I like that, what as you say?
Speaker 2: The greatest stability is dependability. It's more important than the
Speaker 2: other ability in life. The greatest ability is dependability. Are
Speaker 2: you dependable? Are you credit worthy? Are you worthy of trust?
Speaker 2: If you are, then you're going to be a happy
Speaker 2: person because the more people who trust in you, the
Speaker 2: more happy you're going to be. The greatest ability is dependability.
Speaker 2: Proverbs twenty eight to twenty says, honest people will lead
Speaker 2: a full, happy life. You want to be happy. Honest
Speaker 2: people lead full every life. Number two. Not only do
Speaker 2: I live with integrity, I keep my promises.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Hey,
Speaker 1: did you know that most people look for happiness in
Speaker 1: all the wrong places. You won't find it through money, fame,
Speaker 1: or power. You'll only find real, lasting happiness by following
Speaker 1: God's commands. And that's why Rick created the Habits of
Speaker 1: Happiness Bible study. You'll discover how happiness runs deeper than
Speaker 1: any circumstance, feeling, or relationship because of God's unconditional love
Speaker 1: for you. This interactive, full color hardcover book is filled
Speaker 1: with biblical truths, scripture, practical lessons, application exercises, and prayers
Speaker 1: to guide your journey. It's a comprehensive study tool that
Speaker 1: will help you experience the bibal habits that lead to
Speaker 1: true and lasting happiness. This Bible study is only available
Speaker 1: on Daily Hope and quantities are limited, so be sure
Speaker 1: to request the Habits of Happiness Bible study today. When
Speaker 1: you give a gift to help Daily Hope take the
Speaker 1: Hope of Jesus to a hurting world, it's our way
Speaker 1: of saying thanks. Just go to Pastorick dot com to
Speaker 1: get your copy of this great resource. That's Pastorick dot com.
Speaker 1: Or you can just text the word hope to seven
Speaker 1: oh three oh nine. Again, that's the word hope to
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Speaker 2: Word for our daily hope.
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