Speaker 1: Today on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, we continue in our
Speaker 1: series called the Habits of Happiness. In these lessons, Pastor
Speaker 1: Rick dives into the Book of Philippians and helps you
Speaker 1: discover God's path to true and lasting happiness. Now we're
Speaker 1: excited to let you know that very generous friends of
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Speaker 1: to eight hundred, six hundred five thousand and four. Right now,
Speaker 1: here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final part of a
Speaker 1: message called how to keep from Stressing Out.
Speaker 2: Now, when you think about these things true, good, right, pure, beautiful, respected, excellent, worthy,
Speaker 2: you know what that is.
Speaker 3: It's a picture of God.
Speaker 2: And what he's really saying is think about God. Here's
Speaker 2: what Isaiah says there on your outline. You Lord will
Speaker 2: keep in perfect peace. Wouldn't you like to live in
Speaker 2: perfect peace? Would you like to be less stressed 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.
Speaker 3: You in perfect peace.
Speaker 2: You see, what you think about is going to determine
Speaker 2: how stressed and how worried you are. You know, I've
Speaker 2: told you the story of Corey tin Boom. Corey tin
Speaker 2: Boom was a Dutch Christian young woman during World War Two.
Speaker 2: Her family the ten Boom family. Her dad was a
Speaker 2: clockmaker and they lived in Amsterdam during World War two
Speaker 2: and they made a story that she wrote a book about,
Speaker 2: and they actually made a movie of her life called
Speaker 2: The Hiding Place. And during World War two, the ten Boom,
Speaker 2: this Christian family took in Jewish friends and hid them
Speaker 2: in what was called the Hiding Place in their house
Speaker 2: for many years to prevent them from being captured by
Speaker 2: the Nazis and shipped off to death camps. One day,
Speaker 2: the Nazis found out and not only took the Jewish friends,
Speaker 2: but took Corey and her family and they went were
Speaker 2: taken to death camps in Poland and Corey lost her
Speaker 2: 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 say, well, look within,
Speaker 2: Well I did. I didn't like what I said. I
Speaker 2: don't want to look with it. 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 contentment means I have no ambition.
Speaker 3: No, 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 says,
Speaker 2: I've learned to be content, so it has nothing to
Speaker 2: 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 lacky 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.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Rick will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
Speaker 1: If you've missed any part of today's teaching, you can
Speaker 1: listen online anytime at Pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 4: One of the things you ask us about the most
Speaker 4: here on Daily Hope are the Bible scripture cards. We
Speaker 4: get a ton of requests for them, so Pastor Rick
Speaker 4: has created another deck of scripture cards with fifty two
Speaker 4: key verses from his Habits of Happiness teaching series that
Speaker 4: will help you discover God's path to true and lasting happiness.
Speaker 4: These colorful, eye catching cards make it easy to memorize
Speaker 4: the Word of God, so you have it when you
Speaker 4: need it most, something you hear Pastor Rick talking about
Speaker 4: all the time. By the way, today, when you give
Speaker 4: a gift to Daily Hope to help take the Hope
Speaker 4: of Jesus to a hurting world, generous friends of Daily
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Speaker 3: Here's Rick.
Speaker 2: When this happens, then I'll be happy. And when that happens,
Speaker 2: then I'll be happy.
Speaker 3: That's when.
Speaker 2: And then thinking contentment is actually independence from circumstances. It
Speaker 2: means my joy is not connected to what's happening in
Speaker 2: my life right now. My joy, my happiness is not
Speaker 2: 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. Now, here's what Paul says in the next
Speaker 2: few verses, verse eleven twelve.
Speaker 3: He says, I've learned.
Speaker 2: I've learned to be content circle the word learned. Contentment
Speaker 2: is not natural. I'm about my nature content. You're not
Speaker 2: by nature content. You have to learn it, just like
Speaker 2: you have to unlearn 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 said,
Speaker 2: I know how to live in poverty, and I know how.
Speaker 3: To live in luxury. I know them both.
Speaker 2: I know how to be happy, and either in poverty
Speaker 2: or luxury and nothing or with everything, I've learned the
Speaker 2: secret of contentment in every situation, whether I'm well fed
Speaker 2: or hungry, or whether I have more than I need,
Speaker 2: or when I don't have enough. Now, he says, there,
Speaker 2: I have learned to be content. How do I learn contentment?
Speaker 2: Let me give you a couple of three ways. You
Speaker 2: might just write these down. They're not in your notes,
Speaker 2: so just write them down. The first way you learn
Speaker 2: contentment is this, stop comparing. Stop comparing. That's so important
Speaker 2: because the source of all discontent is comparison. I remember many,
Speaker 2: many years ago, when I was a little boy and
Speaker 2: got up on Christmas morning and my parents had given
Speaker 2: me the gift of my lifetime a stingray bicycle. Okay,
Speaker 2: with these butterfly handles, get your motor runing banana seats.
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.
Speaker 3: 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 has more than you,
Speaker 2: and you're gonna get discouraged. Two you're always gonna find
Speaker 2: somebody you're doing a better job then, and you have
Speaker 2: more then, and you get full of pride. Either way,
Speaker 2: you're dead.
Speaker 3: 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 having 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 didn'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.
Speaker 2: Two snowflakes are like two human beings are like. You
Speaker 2: have a unique thumb print, handprint, voice print, footprint, ieprint.
Speaker 3: You are unique.
Speaker 2: Even even identical twins aren't really identical. They're different in
Speaker 2: millions of ways. God never makes a repeat. God man
Speaker 2: makes clones. God never makes clones. When God made you,
Speaker 2: he broke the mold. God wants you to be you.
Speaker 2: And if you don't be you, who's going to be you?
Speaker 2: And so he says, stop comparing. And when you because
Speaker 2: when you compare, you get jealous and you get envious.
Speaker 2: Now the Bible says this, look at this verse on
Speaker 2: your outline. Peace of mind makes the body healthy. But
Speaker 2: envy is like 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 peace 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 tip for learning contentment. Stop thinking that
Speaker 2: having more is better. You see, there are three myths
Speaker 2: that we're taught by advertising in society. Having more will
Speaker 2: make me more happy. Having more will make me more important.
Speaker 2: Having more will make me more secure. None of those
Speaker 2: are true. They're all lies. Having more will not make
Speaker 2: you more happy, having more will not make you more valuable,
Speaker 2: and having more will not make you more secure. In
Speaker 2: the first place, you can lose it all. You can
Speaker 2: use billions. You can lose a billion dollars in a
Speaker 2: lot of ways. And your value is not based on
Speaker 2: your valuables, and your net worth is not based on
Speaker 2: your self worth is not based on your net worth.
Speaker 2: It's based on who you are, not what you own.
Speaker 2: So stop thinking that having more will make me more happy,
Speaker 2: having more will make me more important, having more will
Speaker 2: make me 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 mes terrific book.
Speaker 3: And he says, you know.
Speaker 2: They stripped me naked, they took away everything, including my
Speaker 2: wedding ring. And then he said, I realized that there
Speaker 2: was one thing that could never be taken away from me,
Speaker 2: my ability to choose my response. You cannot control everything
Speaker 2: that happens in your life, but you can choose how
Speaker 2: you respond.
Speaker 3: That's your freedom.
Speaker 2: Now here's what the Bible says, Ecclesiastes chapter four.
Speaker 3: 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. 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 thing, 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 gotta maintain it,
Speaker 2: you gotta store it, you gotta haul it. I mean,
Speaker 2: let me give you an example. My family and my
Speaker 2: kids and my grandkids, we like the jet ski and
Speaker 2: we like to go down to Mission Bay in San
Speaker 2: Diego particularly and jet ski we've done on several vacations,
Speaker 2: will go jet skiing. And because we've done this a
Speaker 2: lot as a family, I've offered thought, well, maybe I
Speaker 2: should go buy some jet skis.
Speaker 3: And then why in the world would I do that?
Speaker 2: I mean, then I got to insure it, Then I
Speaker 2: gotta maintain it, then I gotta store it, then I
Speaker 2: gotta haul it back and forth. You know, if it's
Speaker 2: just down there. I go down there and use it,
Speaker 2: rent it for an hour or two. I'm gonna give
Speaker 2: you a true confession. I know it's gonna shock you.
Speaker 2: I have never spent one hour of my life scraping
Speaker 2: barnacles off.
Speaker 3: My boat 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 and haul it and all. Learn
Speaker 2: to admire without having to acquire. 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 meaned, 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 going to get the
Speaker 2: energy to do these things that reduce the stress in
Speaker 2: 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.
Speaker 3: 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 here is not
Speaker 2: about a religon religion, about a relationship. You may be Buddhist,
Speaker 2: you may be a Baptist. You may be a Catholic
Speaker 2: or Protestant, or Jewish, mean, Muslim, or Mormon, or no
Speaker 2: religion at all. God has never made a person he
Speaker 2: doesn't love. God has never made a person he didn't
Speaker 2: die for. God has never made a person he doesn't
Speaker 2: have a purpose for. And he says, if you'll come
Speaker 2: to me, I will help you. I'm going to close
Speaker 2: with this last verse joke twenty two. Verse twenty one
Speaker 2: says this obey God and be at peace with him.
Speaker 2: This is the way to happiness. You see, the real
Speaker 2: reason you're not at peace is because you're at war
Speaker 2: with God. And until you make your peace with God,
Speaker 2: that's what the Bible says God sent Jesus to do,
Speaker 2: is to make peace with God for us. When you
Speaker 2: make peace with God, then you get the peace of God,
Speaker 2: and then you can have peace with others. They're not
Speaker 2: gonna be peace in the world till the Prince of
Speaker 2: is reigning in our hearts. So in order for you
Speaker 2: to have the peace of God, you have to first
Speaker 2: have the peace with God. And let's close of that.
Speaker 2: Let's bow our heads. Would you bow your heads with me?
Speaker 2: And I'm going to lead you in a prayer. My
Speaker 2: blessing on you this week is Romans fifteen thirty three.
Speaker 2: It says, I pray that God, who gives peace, will
Speaker 2: be with you. So would you pray this simple prayer.
Speaker 2: It doesn't really matter what your words you say. If
Speaker 2: you just say, as I say this, you say me
Speaker 2: to God, me too, say Dear God, I don't really
Speaker 2: want to be stressed out. I want to learn the
Speaker 2: habits of happiness. And you have promised that if I
Speaker 2: do these things, I will experience your peace.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to 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. Help me
Speaker 2: to worry about nothing. To remember it's unreasonable and unnatural
Speaker 2: and unhelpful and unnecessary.
Speaker 3: You're gonna take care of me. Dear God.
Speaker 2: Help me to worry about nothing. And Dear God, help
Speaker 2: me to pray about everything instead of talking to myself,
Speaker 2: to talk to you. Help me to thank God in
Speaker 2: all things. Help me to think about the good things.
Speaker 2: And God, I ask you to help me to be
Speaker 2: content with anything. God, I want to have peace with
Speaker 2: 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. So I opened my heart and
Speaker 2: as humbly God, I say, make yourself real to.
Speaker 3: Me, and I pray this in your name. Amen.
Speaker 2: Hi, everybody, this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed
Speaker 2: today's broadcast. You know, if you just prayed that prayer
Speaker 2: for the very first time or you just recommitted your
Speaker 2: life to Jesus again today, would you let me know
Speaker 2: about it. There's something real about sharing your commitment. So
Speaker 2: write me Rick at Pastorrick dot com and say, Rick,
Speaker 2: I prayed that prayer of commitment, I gave my life
Speaker 2: to Christ. And I'll send you some material that will
Speaker 2: help you on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also
Speaker 2: pray for you. God bless you.
Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Now, if you've missed
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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
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