Speaker 1: This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry
Speaker 1: of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in our series
Speaker 1: called Strategies for Stressful Times. In these lessons, Rick SHARE's
Speaker 1: biblical wisdom for navigating difficult and stressful times so that
Speaker 1: you can experience God's peace and thrive in any situation. Now,
Speaker 1: in just a little while, we're going to tell you
Speaker 1: about an amazing opportunity to partner with Daily Hope to
Speaker 1: share the Word of God with people around the world.
Speaker 1: You can find out more by going to Pastorick dot
Speaker 1: com while you listen to the message, or by texting
Speaker 1: the word Hope to eight hundred six hundred, five thousand
Speaker 1: and four. Now here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final
Speaker 1: part of a message called finding the Strength to keep
Speaker 1: going when I'm emotionally worn out.
Speaker 2: Job had every reason to be angry and to be
Speaker 2: bitter because nothing made sense. Here he is serving God,
Speaker 2: doing the right things. He was a just man, the
Speaker 2: Bible said, but nothing made sense. He literally lost everything
Speaker 2: in his life, and one day, what did Job do?
Speaker 2: He did this third point when he was in a
Speaker 2: situation where he was going, I don't know if I've
Speaker 2: got strength to go on. What he did is he
Speaker 2: gratefully worshiped God when everything around him did not make sense. Obviously,
Speaker 2: it's easy to worship God when everything's going your way,
Speaker 2: but while how do you worship God when everything's not
Speaker 2: going your way? Job Chapter one, verses twenty to twenty two.
Speaker 2: It says this that in grief, Job tore his robe
Speaker 2: and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground
Speaker 2: and he worshiped God. Is that a strange thing to
Speaker 2: do in the middle of having lost everything in your life?
Speaker 2: He fell to the ground and worshiped God. And here's
Speaker 2: what he said. Here's Job's perspective. I was born with nothing,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to die with nothing. The Lord gave
Speaker 2: and now the Lord is taken away. May the name
Speaker 2: of the Lord be praised. That's gratitude in spite of
Speaker 2: everything the Bible says that had happened. This is the
Speaker 2: next verse. In spite of everything that had happened, Job
Speaker 2: did not sin by blaming God. Now, if you're taking
Speaker 2: notes right now on your outline, I want you to
Speaker 2: circle the phrase praised in spite of everything. Circle that
Speaker 2: phrase he praised in spite of everything. Do you do that,
Speaker 2: or do you only thank God when things are going
Speaker 2: good in your life? You see throughout this book, Job
Speaker 2: expresses trust and praise and gratitude to God even when
Speaker 2: he has no idea why all these problems and tragedies
Speaker 2: are happening in his life, one right after another. And
Speaker 2: when Job could not find anything, any circumstance that he
Speaker 2: could be grateful for, he just couldn't fvite it. He'd
Speaker 2: lost it all. What does he do? He expresses gratitude
Speaker 2: for God's character. He expresses God for what he knew
Speaker 2: God was really like. Now that is a lesson we
Speaker 2: all need to learn when you're going through a time,
Speaker 2: and he goes, I can't find anything in my life
Speaker 2: to be thankful for. Well, I bet you could. Okay,
Speaker 2: I bet you could. But if you were not able
Speaker 2: to find anything you could be thankful for in your life,
Speaker 2: you could still be thankful for who God is. And
Speaker 2: Job shows us that in spite of how I feel,
Speaker 2: I can always be grateful. I've listed just three or
Speaker 2: four of the things he's grateful for in the book
Speaker 2: of Job. They're about fifteen. But Job says, I can
Speaker 2: always be grateful that God is loving and cares for me.
Speaker 2: Job ten twelve. God is loving and cares for me,
Speaker 2: and I know that even when things are going wrong
Speaker 2: in my life, God is a loving God and he
Speaker 2: cares for me. I can be grateful for that. Then
Speaker 2: Job twenty three fourteen, I can be grateful that God
Speaker 2: has a detailed plan for my future. I can't see it,
Speaker 2: but because I know God's good God, and he has
Speaker 2: a plan for my life, it's a good plan. He
Speaker 2: has a detailed plan for my life. In job thirty
Speaker 2: four thirteen, I can be grateful that God is in
Speaker 2: control of what I don't understand. That's been comforting to
Speaker 2: me so many times. God's in control of what I
Speaker 2: don't understand. And then in job twenty three ten, I
Speaker 2: can be grateful that God will reward me after I'm tested.
Speaker 2: After I'm tested, there will be a reward for all
Speaker 2: the problems that I'm going through right now. Now, let
Speaker 2: me just say this to you. I don't know what
Speaker 2: sapping your strength today, but I do know that one
Speaker 2: of the antidotes to what's sapping your strength is personal worship.
Speaker 2: That is one of the four antidotes to the things
Speaker 2: that drain your emotions. Personal worship King. David modeled this
Speaker 2: key also besides job. Psalm sixty three, verse two says this.
Speaker 2: David says, so, here I am in the place of worship,
Speaker 2: eyes open, drinking in your strength, drinking in your strength, Wow,
Speaker 2: in God's glory. Worship is a time to drink in
Speaker 2: God's strength. That's why worship is so essential to your life.
Speaker 2: If you stop worshiping, you're gonna run out of emotional energy.
Speaker 2: Here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,
Speaker 2: drinking in your strength. Strength comes from worshiping God. And
Speaker 2: Psal I'm sixty nine thirty two says this. It's on
Speaker 2: the screen. Those who worship God will be encouraged. Why
Speaker 2: because when I worship, I focus on God. And you
Speaker 2: know what, I've discovered. The bigger God gets in my view,
Speaker 2: the smaller all my problems did.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope rip will be
Speaker 1: back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.
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Speaker 3: takes a predictable path from dream to deliverance, and along
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Speaker 1: Now back to more from God's Word with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 2: The bigger God gets in my view, the smaller all
Speaker 2: my problems get. When God's did not. In my view,
Speaker 2: my problem seems so big. But when I compare Him
Speaker 2: to God, my problems shrink in size. I can't tell
Speaker 2: you how many times I've had a problem that I
Speaker 2: thought was overwhelming to me, and then I'd go to
Speaker 2: church service, at worship service, and I would worship with
Speaker 2: other believers, and all of a sudden, it just shrinks
Speaker 2: the problem. It's not as big because I see the
Speaker 2: greatness of God. All right, Now, let's just review. Four
Speaker 2: keys and four attitudes to the power of recharging your
Speaker 2: emotions so you can keep on and have the strength
Speaker 2: to finish well. First key to keep going, honestly tell
Speaker 2: God what I'm feeling. Don't hold it in, don't stuff it.
Speaker 2: Second key to keep going, humbly ask God for strength
Speaker 2: in humilities that God, I need you, I need your
Speaker 2: strength today, and you say it over and over. Third
Speaker 2: key to keeping on keeping on gratefully thank God for
Speaker 2: all that's good despite all that's bad. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of bad in the world, but if you look for it,
Speaker 2: there's plenty of good too. And now we come to
Speaker 2: the fourth and final key to having the strength to
Speaker 2: keep on keeping on when you feel like giving up.
Speaker 2: Number four, constantly keep God as my focus. Constantly keep
Speaker 2: God as my focus. I'm humbly asking and I'm gratefully continuing,
Speaker 2: and I'm honestly telling God how I feel. But now
Speaker 2: I'm constantly keeping God as my central focus. What does
Speaker 2: that mean? It means don't let yourself be distracted by
Speaker 2: less important things. All the stuff that the cable news
Speaker 2: and everybody else thinks is so important, It's not that important.
Speaker 2: Now this is a powerful tool for having the strength
Speaker 2: to keep going for the rest of your life, to
Speaker 2: finishing well. Hebrews Chapter twelve, Verse two says this we
Speaker 2: must focus on Jesus. This is the fourth key, the
Speaker 2: fourth secret. We must focus on Jesus, the source and
Speaker 2: goal of our faith. He Jesus saw the joy ahead
Speaker 2: of him, so he endured death on the cross and
Speaker 2: ignored the disgrace it brought him. Then he received the
Speaker 2: highest position in heaven. Now that versus chalk full of
Speaker 2: spiritual truth. But I just want to mention a couple
Speaker 2: of things. The reason that Jesus was able to keep
Speaker 2: going strong. Are you listening? The reason Jesus was able
Speaker 2: to keep going strong even through the pain and the
Speaker 2: shame of the cross was because what he focused on.
Speaker 2: Did you say, see that he wasn't focusing on the
Speaker 2: current pain, the current problems, the current stress, the current difficulties,
Speaker 2: the current criticisms. He wasn't focused on all that. Now
Speaker 2: he was focused on the future joy. He says. He
Speaker 2: looked to the joy that was set before him. He
Speaker 2: looks past the cross to the reward. He looks to
Speaker 2: the future glory. He has an eternal perspective. Now listen,
Speaker 2: if you only face life, your life with short term perspective,
Speaker 2: You're not going to keep going strong. I don't give
Speaker 2: you a snowball's chance in hell of finishing well if
Speaker 2: you have a small short term focus, because you'll give up,
Speaker 2: you'll quit. But if you want to be like Jesus,
Speaker 2: you look past the pain to the promise. You look
Speaker 2: past the cross to the joy in heaven. Let me
Speaker 2: just ask your pointed question right now, what do you
Speaker 2: think about the most these days? Think about that? Be honest.
Speaker 2: What do you think about most these days? Is it
Speaker 2: short term or long term? And what do you talk
Speaker 2: about most these days? The reason I'm asking this question
Speaker 2: is because whatever you think about the most, and whatever
Speaker 2: you talk about the most, that's your life focus. And
Speaker 2: if it's not Jesus, it's no wonder your draining. It's
Speaker 2: no wonder society is draining you and all the things.
Speaker 2: If you're focused on all the albums and you can't
Speaker 2: wait till the latest news, well no wonder. Tewod Corinthians,
Speaker 2: chapter four, verse sixteen to eighteen says this, this is
Speaker 2: why we never give up. Are you listening? This is
Speaker 2: the key, This is why we never give up Our
Speaker 2: spirits are being renewed every day, and our present troubles
Speaker 2: are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce
Speaker 2: in us for us an immeasurably great glory that's gonna
Speaker 2: last forever. The temporary problems are gonna produce everlasting glory
Speaker 2: and reward forever. So he says, we fix our eyes.
Speaker 2: That's focus not on what is seen, but on what
Speaker 2: is unseen. It's choosing what you're gonna look at, choosing
Speaker 2: what you're gonna focus on. For what is seen as temporary,
Speaker 2: but what is unseen is eternal. Now, let's go back
Speaker 2: on that verse, he says, first he said, you've got
Speaker 2: to look. Here's why we never give up. He said,
Speaker 2: we never give up because we're not focusing on the
Speaker 2: short term. We're focusing on the long term. We're gonna
Speaker 2: keep going. And he says, there's five ways in that
Speaker 2: passage that I just read, Five ways to stay strong emotionally.
Speaker 2: Are you listening? We never give up because number one,
Speaker 2: our spirits are being renewed each day. You say, how
Speaker 2: do I get my spirit renewed every day? Get in
Speaker 2: this book. Thy word is truth. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Speaker 2: The Bible says, this is food. Man shall not live
Speaker 2: by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out
Speaker 2: of the mouth of God. You wouldn't think of fasting
Speaker 2: for a week, but some people they don't open their
Speaker 2: Bible for an entire week. If you don't eat the
Speaker 2: food this is soul food. The way you get your
Speaker 2: spirit renewed is to get in this word every day,
Speaker 2: his word, first word, his word, last word. Second reason,
Speaker 2: we don't give up because we know that all the
Speaker 2: troubles on earth are temporary. They don't last. You know what,
Speaker 2: even if I had a problem that lasted my entire life,
Speaker 2: and I have some problems in my life that have
Speaker 2: lasted my entire life. I was born with some brain
Speaker 2: disorders and things like that. But even if it lasts
Speaker 2: all my life, that's miniscule compared to the trillions and
Speaker 2: trillions of years we're going to have in heaven. So
Speaker 2: we know the problems on earth are temporary. They have
Speaker 2: a long term expected. Three, we know that God is
Speaker 2: using everything in our lives to build our character. All
Speaker 2: things work together for the good of those who love God.
Speaker 2: God is using even the bad stuff to build our character. Four.
Speaker 2: The Bible says in that passage, we know the reward's
Speaker 2: going to be great and it's going to last eternity.
Speaker 2: And number five, we're keeping our eyes on God. We're focused,
Speaker 2: we fix our attention. We're focused on God, not on
Speaker 2: the problems. So let me ask you, what are you
Speaker 2: focused on today? All the mess in the world. Stop
Speaker 2: looking at your problems, start looking at Jesus again. Now,
Speaker 2: I want to close with a scripture that's going to
Speaker 2: be my prayer for you all this next week. It's
Speaker 2: Colossians chapter one, verse eleven, because I want you to
Speaker 2: make it to the finish line. My job as your
Speaker 2: pastor is a spiritual coach to help you keep on,
Speaker 2: keeping on and to not get sidelined in this marathon
Speaker 2: of life, to not run off in the ditch, to
Speaker 2: not finish the race. Colossians one to eleven. Living Bible
Speaker 2: says this, and I'm praying this for you. We're praying
Speaker 2: that you will be filled with all his that's God's
Speaker 2: mighty glorious strength. I'm praying for God to fill you
Speaker 2: with his mighty glorious strength so you don't feel weak,
Speaker 2: so that you can keep going. This is what we're
Speaker 2: talking about. This weekend so that you can keep going.
Speaker 2: You need the strength to keep going. We're praying that
Speaker 2: God's mighty, glorious strength will fill you so that you
Speaker 2: can keep going no matter what happens, always full of
Speaker 2: the joy of the Lord. That's my prayer for you.
Speaker 2: You know why. It not only make you happier, but
Speaker 2: the world desperately needs you to be that kind of
Speaker 2: person full of joy in the Lord. You're able to
Speaker 2: keep going because you're filled with the mighty strength of
Speaker 2: God's Spirit in you, and that makes you joyful. Even
Speaker 2: in the most depressing times and in the most discouraging situations,
Speaker 2: it still makes you joyful. It's not false optimism. It's
Speaker 2: the joy that comes from a deep trust in Jesus.
Speaker 2: That's my prayer for you. I hope you'll put these
Speaker 2: than to practice this next week. Before we close, let
Speaker 2: me say a word to those of you who may
Speaker 2: not be sure that you've been saved by Jesus. The
Speaker 2: only way you're going to finish well in life is
Speaker 2: by letting Jesus give you his presence in your heart,
Speaker 2: his power in your life to enable you to fulfill
Speaker 2: his promise that he has for your soul and your
Speaker 2: whole life. You need to be saved. Notice the last
Speaker 2: verse on your outline two Timothy Chapter one, verse eightan nine,
Speaker 2: and I love the message translation says this. We can
Speaker 2: only keep on going. We can only keep on going
Speaker 2: after all by the power of God, the power of
Speaker 2: God who first saved us. Now, before you can have
Speaker 2: the power of God in your daily life, you've got
Speaker 2: to let God save you. He first saved and then
Speaker 2: he gives you the power for daily living. Now, if
Speaker 2: you're not sure whether you've been saved or not, it
Speaker 2: would be my honor right now to lead you in
Speaker 2: a prayer of salvation. If you're not sure, let's just
Speaker 2: settle this issue for once and for all your eternal destiny.
Speaker 2: All right, So let's all bow our heads together, and
Speaker 2: I'm going to pray a simple prayer, and I'd like
Speaker 2: to ask you to just follow me in it. And
Speaker 2: if you're sincere and you meet it in your heart,
Speaker 2: God's going to hear you and he will save you.
Speaker 2: The Bible says whoever calls on the name of the
Speaker 2: Lord will be saved. So let's bow our heads and
Speaker 2: just say something like this, Dear God, you know I'm
Speaker 2: tired and you know how many times I feel empty
Speaker 2: and I feel out of gas, and I don't feel
Speaker 2: like I've got what it takes to keep on going,
Speaker 2: and I feel like sometimes given up in different areas
Speaker 2: of my life. But I want your power in my
Speaker 2: life life, and more that than that, I want you
Speaker 2: in my life. Thank you for loving me, Just say that.
Speaker 2: Thank you for loving me, Thank you for sending Jesus
Speaker 2: to die for me. Help me to understand what that's
Speaker 2: all about. And as much as I know how, today
Speaker 2: I ask you, Jesus Christ, to put your spirit of
Speaker 2: love inside me, Come inside me and fill me with
Speaker 2: new energy, with new strength, the strength that comes from
Speaker 2: trusting in you. I can't do this on my own.
Speaker 2: I need your help. So as much as I know how,
Speaker 2: today I'm saying yes, God, Yes, I want you in
Speaker 2: my life. And I want to spend the rest of
Speaker 2: my life getting to know you as a friend and
Speaker 2: filling the purpose that you created me for. I humbly
Speaker 2: ask you to accept me into your family by your grace,
Speaker 2: and I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi, everybody,
Speaker 2: this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast.
Speaker 2: You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the
Speaker 2: very first time, or you just recommitted your life to
Speaker 2: Jesus again today. Would you let me know about it.
Speaker 2: There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me
Speaker 2: Rick at Pastorick dot com and say, Rick, I prayed
Speaker 2: that prayer of commitment, I gave my life to Christ.
Speaker 2: And I'll send you some material that will help you
Speaker 2: on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also pray for you.
Speaker 2: God bless you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy
Speaker 1: you've chosen to study along with us today. You know
Speaker 1: you can get hope and encouragement from Pastor Rick delivered
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Speaker 1: will be right back to close out our time today.
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