Speaker 1: Welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Today we continue on
Speaker 1: a journey through a powerful series called God's Amazing Promises.
Speaker 1: In the upcoming lessons, you'll discover some of the most
Speaker 1: profound promises that God has made to you. These promises
Speaker 1: are not mere words. They are keys to a renewed life,
Speaker 1: inner peace, and a hopeful future. But before we get started,
Speaker 1: we want to let you know that very generous friends
Speaker 1: of the ministry are offering a one hundred thousand dollars
Speaker 1: matching grant. That means every dollar you give right now
Speaker 1: to help Daily Hope share the hope of Jesus around
Speaker 1: the world will be matched up to one hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: making your gift go twice as far. You can find
Speaker 1: out more by going to Pastorick dot com or by
Speaker 1: texting the word Hope to eight hundred, six hundred five
Speaker 1: thousand and four. Right now, here's Pastor Rick Warren with
Speaker 1: the final part of a message called God's Promises about giving.
Speaker 2: You see, you can give by reason or you can
Speaker 2: give by revelation. When you give by reason, you look
Speaker 2: at your bank account and go what kind of afford
Speaker 2: to give? Anybody can give by reason. You don't even
Speaker 2: have to be a believer. You don't have to be
Speaker 2: a Christian. Takes no faith to give by reason. This
Speaker 2: is how much I got, This is what I can
Speaker 2: afford to give, but to give by revelations. Go, God,
Speaker 2: how much do you want to give through me? How
Speaker 2: much do you want to give through This is a
Speaker 2: test of faith, And many, many times, time after time,
Speaker 2: I've now done this literally hundreds of times where we
Speaker 2: would pray and I would pray, and God would give
Speaker 2: us a number to give that is so astronomical. We
Speaker 2: thought we don't have that to give. I remember in
Speaker 2: one of the early building programs of Saddle Backed Church,
Speaker 2: we committed to give an amount that was equal to
Speaker 2: my entire salary for three years, and I thought, how
Speaker 2: are we going to live for three years without my salary?
Speaker 2: But that's what we God Cole's get. And in a
Speaker 2: miraculous way, God took care of that need and met mind.
Speaker 2: He said, He's done it so many times. I do
Speaker 2: it without thinking. Now I know that God keeps his
Speaker 2: promises about giving. And so when Kay and I got married,
Speaker 2: we started tithing. Tithe means ten percent. We started giving
Speaker 2: ten percent to God At the end of the first year,
Speaker 2: we raised our giving to eleven percent. At the end
Speaker 2: of our second year, we raised our giving to twelve percent.
Speaker 2: At the end of our third year, we raised our
Speaker 2: giving three percent, so we were now given fifteen percent.
Speaker 2: Now why did we do this? I mean, we didn't
Speaker 2: tell anybody about it for nearly thirty years, so we
Speaker 2: weren't clearly, weren't showing off. We weren't trying to impress
Speaker 2: God or to impress anybody. We didn't tell anybody about
Speaker 2: it for years and years and years. But every time
Speaker 2: I give, it breaks the grip of materialism in my life.
Speaker 2: Every time I give, my heart goes bigger. Every time
Speaker 2: I give, I become more like Jesus, and I want
Speaker 2: to be that way. So every year we would increase
Speaker 2: our giving to the Lord. And there were times when
Speaker 2: the cupboard was bare and the year was real tight
Speaker 2: and tough, but we'd still raise our giving like a
Speaker 2: quarter of a percent because we always wanted to give
Speaker 2: more the last year and another years when we had,
Speaker 2: like you know, I wrote a book or got a
Speaker 2: salary raise or something like that, we would raise our
Speaker 2: giving four five percent and tell finally, now, for many years.
Speaker 2: For the last at least fifteen years, K and I
Speaker 2: have given away ninety one percent and live on nine percent.
Speaker 2: And you know, people often ask me, why do you
Speaker 2: think God chose you to write a book, Purpose Driven
Speaker 2: Life that has now sold in all of its editions
Speaker 2: over fifty million copies. And one of the things I
Speaker 2: know is because He knew what I'd do with the money.
Speaker 2: He knew we wouldn't spend it on ourselves. I had
Speaker 2: a nearly thirty year track record of giving when we
Speaker 2: didn't have the money, when the cupboard was bear, when
Speaker 2: I was driving a car that I bought for five
Speaker 2: hundred dollars over in leisure World instead of buying a
Speaker 2: new car so we could give more, and the times
Speaker 2: that we said we didn't buy that TV because we
Speaker 2: wanted to give more. And God knew that I had
Speaker 2: a track record that he could trust me with all
Speaker 2: that money. Now, let me give you one more that
Speaker 2: promises that God has made, and it is this. God
Speaker 2: promises that my giving is stored up in heaven. This
Speaker 2: is a big, big thing. God promises that when I give,
Speaker 2: I'm not actually giving it away, that God is actually
Speaker 2: storing it up in heaven.
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.
Speaker 1: You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional
Speaker 1: at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.
Speaker 3: Every year, people tell us how much they benefit from
Speaker 3: the Bible verses found in the Daily Hope Prayer Journal,
Speaker 3: So for the very first time, Pastor Rick created a
Speaker 3: special scripture card said with fifty two life changing verses
Speaker 3: found in this year's prayer Journal. These verses will encourage
Speaker 3: you in difficult times and help you experience the piece
Speaker 3: you can only find in Jesus. This set of beautifully
Speaker 3: designed cards will help you memorize scripture so you can
Speaker 3: recall God's word when you need it most. You can
Speaker 3: also use them to minister to others. Give one to
Speaker 3: a friend and write a personalized note of encouragement on
Speaker 3: the back. If a scripture really speaks to you, frame it,
Speaker 3: put them in places where you can read them during
Speaker 3: the day for encouragement. And today, when you give a
Speaker 3: gift to help Daily Hope take the hope of Jesus
Speaker 3: to a world in need, We'll send you the Experiencing
Speaker 3: God's Peace Scripture Card Set. To say thanks, Visit Pastorick
Speaker 3: dot com or call eight hundred six hundred five zero
Speaker 3: zero four to get your copy of Experiencing God's Peace
Speaker 3: Scripture Card set. And all this month, any gift you
Speaker 3: give will be matched by very generous friends up to
Speaker 3: one hundred thousand dollars. This matching grant is only available
Speaker 3: until midnight December thirty first, so please contact us today again,
Speaker 3: that's Pastorick dot com or call eight hundred six hundred
Speaker 3: five zero zero four. Thank you so much for your support,
Speaker 3: and don't forget to mention that you heard Daily Hope
Speaker 3: on the radio.
Speaker 1: Now back to More from God's Word with Pastor Rick Warren.
Speaker 2: For the last at least fifteen years, K and I
Speaker 2: have given away ninety one percent and live on nine percent.
Speaker 2: And you know, people often ask me, why do you
Speaker 2: think God chose you to write a book, Purpose Driven
Speaker 2: Life that has now sold in all of its editions
Speaker 2: over fifty million copies. And one of the things I
Speaker 2: know is because he knew what I'd do with the money.
Speaker 2: He knew we wouldn't spend it on ourselves. I had
Speaker 2: a nearly thirty year track record of giving when we
Speaker 2: didn't have the money, when the cupboard was bear, when
Speaker 2: I was driving a car that I bought for five
Speaker 2: hundred dollars over in leisure world instead of buying a
Speaker 2: new car so we could give more, and the times
Speaker 2: that we said we didn't buy that TV because we
Speaker 2: wanted to give more. And God knew that I had
Speaker 2: a track record that he could trust me with all
Speaker 2: that money. Now, let me give you one more that
Speaker 2: promises that God has made, and it is this. God
Speaker 2: promises that my giving is stored up in heaven. This
Speaker 2: is a big, big thing. God promises that when I give,
Speaker 2: I'm not actually giving it a way that God is
Speaker 2: actually storing it up in heaven. Let me show you
Speaker 2: some verses about this. One Timothy, chapter six, verse eighteen
Speaker 2: and nineteen says this, use your money to do good.
Speaker 2: Use your money to do good, and give generously, always
Speaker 2: being ready to share with others whatever God has given you. Okay,
Speaker 2: can you do that? That's the premise of the promise.
Speaker 2: Always be ready to give generously, Always be ready to
Speaker 2: share with others whatever God's given you. Here's the promise.
Speaker 2: By doing this, you will be storing up real treasure
Speaker 2: for yourselves. Let's talking about in heaven. It is the
Speaker 2: only safe investment for eternity. Now, I want you to
Speaker 2: circle two words for yourselves. It says you'll be storing
Speaker 2: up real treasure for yourself. God says that when you
Speaker 2: give to God or you give to somebody need, you're
Speaker 2: storing up treasure for yourself. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 2: And where are you storing up for yourself in heaven?
Speaker 2: Circle that treasure for yourself? Treasure results. What is that? Well,
Speaker 2: we know that God has set up a bank account
Speaker 2: for you in heaven, and he says you can store
Speaker 2: up treasure for yourself in that bank account. How do
Speaker 2: you do that by giving it away? Now? How do
Speaker 2: we know that God has a bank account for you
Speaker 2: in heaven Because Jesus mentioned it five times, five times.
Speaker 2: Anytime God mentions something five times, he said, I want
Speaker 2: you to get the message. Jesus uses the phrase store
Speaker 2: up treasure in heaven five times. I want to suggest
Speaker 2: to you that more important than your retirement account on
Speaker 2: earth is you need to start thinking about your eternal
Speaker 2: bank account in heaven, because that one's got to last
Speaker 2: trillions and trillions of years whereas your you know, your
Speaker 2: retirement account, maybe just a few years. He said, well, Rick,
Speaker 2: how do I fund that eternal investment? How do I
Speaker 2: store up treasure in heaven? Well, you can't take it
Speaker 2: with you, but you can send it on ahead through giving.
Speaker 2: And Jesus tells us this way Luke, Chapter sixteen, Verse nine,
Speaker 2: Jesus says, use your worldly wealth, your worldly resources, to
Speaker 2: benefit others and make friends. He's talking about eternal friends,
Speaker 2: make friends in heaven. In this way, your generosity stores
Speaker 2: up a reward for you in heaven. And wait a minute,
Speaker 2: let's look at that verse again. Go back and look
Speaker 2: at that. It says, use your worldly resources to benefit others.
Speaker 2: Got that part, and use it to make eternal no friends.
Speaker 2: What does that mean? It means when you invest in
Speaker 2: people who are going there? That when if you use
Speaker 2: money to help people come to Christ, if you use
Speaker 2: money to be converted, if you use funds to help
Speaker 2: like Daily Hope or any of our outreaches, you're actually
Speaker 2: making an investment in eternity. Any money that you give away,
Speaker 2: you're actually investing in eternity. And he says, when you
Speaker 2: invest in other people, when you help people come to Christ,
Speaker 2: they're gonna go to heaven. And when you get to heaven,
Speaker 2: can you imagine a bunch of people coming up to
Speaker 2: you and say, thank you. I'm here because of you.
Speaker 2: I'm here because you gave to support Daily Hope radio
Speaker 2: program or any other ministry or outreach that's doing a
Speaker 2: good job. God says. People will say to you, I'm
Speaker 2: your friend for eternity, thank you for caring for me.
Speaker 2: As I said, you can't take it with you, but
Speaker 2: you can send it on ahead. Now let's review these
Speaker 2: nine promises of God. The premise is this, if I
Speaker 2: put God first in my money first by tithing ten
Speaker 2: percent back to him, the first ten percent goes back
Speaker 2: to God, and I start learning to be generous with
Speaker 2: my money with others and investing it in good things
Speaker 2: and helping people come to Christ, help people grow, then
Speaker 2: I can count on God to do these nine things.
Speaker 2: God promises that if I learn to be generous, good
Speaker 2: things will happen to me, and he'll bless me. Number two,
Speaker 2: my children will be blessed. I don't just get blessed,
Speaker 2: they do next Genuary. He will bless my work and
Speaker 2: my business. He will make it profitable. Number four, I
Speaker 2: will be happier. God says, it's a promise. You will
Speaker 2: be happier and you learn to be generous. Number five,
Speaker 2: My influence will increase, your world grows larger and larger.
Speaker 2: Number six. I will end up with more you can't
Speaker 2: outgive God. Number seven, God will meet all my needs.
Speaker 2: Number eight. God will multiply whatever I give to him
Speaker 2: like the seed. And number nine, my giving is actually
Speaker 2: being stored up in heaven as a bank account in
Speaker 2: treasure in heaven for me to use when I get there. So,
Speaker 2: really it just comes down to this, do I believe
Speaker 2: these promises? Really, it just comes down to do I
Speaker 2: really trust God to keep his promises? You see, you
Speaker 2: only actually believe the part of the Bible you actually do.
Speaker 2: And so if you say, well I believe the Bible,
Speaker 2: but God's given you all these promises and you're not
Speaker 2: tithing or you're not being generous, you don't really believe
Speaker 2: the promises of God. Now why would you believe God
Speaker 2: and trust him enough to save you, but you wouldn't
Speaker 2: believe him trust him enough for all the other things
Speaker 2: he's promised. That didn't make sense? You say, okay, well,
Speaker 2: if I really want to trust God, what's my starting point. Well,
Speaker 2: my starting point is said pithing. God says over and
Speaker 2: over again that if I make ten dollars right off
Speaker 2: the top, the first dollar goes back to him. It's
Speaker 2: called pithing. Tithing means a tenth it's not one percent,
Speaker 2: it's not five percent. Tithing means ten percent. You're not
Speaker 2: tithing the first part of your income back to God.
Speaker 2: That's where you need to start with generosity, because you're not.
Speaker 2: You can't be generous if you're robbing from God. You
Speaker 2: know that at least ten times in scripture, God says,
Speaker 2: the first part of everything you make belongs to me.
Speaker 2: The tithe is mine. It's holy to me. And God says,
Speaker 2: you're not to use my part of the income I
Speaker 2: give you on yourself. You can use the other ninety percent.
Speaker 2: But he says, if you use my part on yourself,
Speaker 2: you're cheating me. God gets really specific about this in
Speaker 2: the Book of Malachi, and he actually starts negative and
Speaker 2: then and he goes positive. He starts actually with a
Speaker 2: rebuke of his people for not trusting him and for
Speaker 2: not tithing, and then he challenges us with a promise
Speaker 2: of reward. Let's wrap it up with this verse. Malachi
Speaker 2: three eight to twelve says this, This is God talking.
Speaker 2: Is it right to rob God? Pretty important question, God says,
Speaker 2: is it right to rob me? Yet you are robbing me,
Speaker 2: says the Lord. But you ask how are we robbing you?
Speaker 2: And God answers By not returning your tithes and offerings,
Speaker 2: He says, you're using my money on yourself. Bring your
Speaker 2: whole tithe, that's the whole ten percent into my storehouse.
Speaker 2: Notice where he brings it. It's an act of worship,
Speaker 2: given as an act of worship at the house of worship.
Speaker 2: Bring your tithe my store. Giving to a charity is
Speaker 2: not tithing. Giving to your sister in need is not tithing.
Speaker 2: Bring your tie in my storehouse. It's undesignated giving. He
Speaker 2: said that there may be food in my house. Now
Speaker 2: notes he says, test me in this. I call this
Speaker 2: the Pepsi challenge verse. This is the only place in
Speaker 2: the Bible where God says you can prove he exists.
Speaker 2: He says, test me in this, and see if I
Speaker 2: will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour
Speaker 2: out so much blessing that there's not enough room for
Speaker 2: you to store it. That's like press down fully measured,
Speaker 2: running over into your lap. See if I won't throw
Speaker 2: open the floodgates of heaven, here's the reward. The rebuke
Speaker 2: was you're not tithing. The reward is test me, try
Speaker 2: it you like it. See if you throw open the
Speaker 2: floodgates of heaven, pour out so much blessing that there
Speaker 2: will not be enough room for you to store it.
Speaker 2: And then he says, Then God says, I will prevent
Speaker 2: the pest from devouring your crops. Did you know that
Speaker 2: any money you don't give back to God in tithe,
Speaker 2: God allows other things to take their pests in your life.
Speaker 2: And it can be everything from the refrigerator breaking down
Speaker 2: to the car needing repairs, and on and on. God
Speaker 2: allows that. He says, you're not going to spend my money,
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to give it away. Now. Why is
Speaker 2: tithing so important to your spiritual growth? Well because, first place,
Speaker 2: it unlocks all these promises we've looked at. Deuteronomy fourteen
Speaker 2: twenty three on the screen says this. The purpose of
Speaker 2: tithing is to teach you to always put God first
Speaker 2: in your lives. If you're not tithing, God is not
Speaker 2: first in your life, show me your calendar, show me
Speaker 2: your money, and I'll show you what's first in your life. Well,
Speaker 2: he says, we give the first part of our income
Speaker 2: on the first day of the week. Another thing is
Speaker 2: the tithing draws us closer to God. Jesus said, your
Speaker 2: heart will be wherever your train is. All right, let's
Speaker 2: bow our heads for prayer. God. I know this is
Speaker 2: a scary time for some people because they just have
Speaker 2: never trusted you and your promises. So help them realize
Speaker 2: that the same God who died for them, and the
Speaker 2: same God who loves them and saves them and it's
Speaker 2: going to keep his promise to take him to heaven,
Speaker 2: is the same God who says, I'll do these nine
Speaker 2: things if you'll learn to be like me, if you'll
Speaker 2: learn to be as generous as I am. Now you pray,
Speaker 2: Say God, I want these promises in my life, Say God.
Speaker 2: I want good things to happen to me. I want
Speaker 2: my children to be blessed. I want my work or
Speaker 2: business to be blessed. I want to be happier. Lord,
Speaker 2: I want my influenced increase, and I want to end
Speaker 2: up with more than I've got. And Lord, I want
Speaker 2: to trust you to meet all my needs. And I
Speaker 2: want to believe that you will multiply what I give you.
Speaker 2: And I want to trust that whatever I give in
Speaker 2: tithes and offerings and in charity, that my giving is
Speaker 2: being stored up in heaven. So today I commit or
Speaker 2: recommit to giving the first ten percent back to you.
Speaker 2: I'm going to trust your promises. I'm going to believe
Speaker 2: your word, and I know that it's pleasing to you. Lord.
Speaker 2: I can't do this on my own, so I need
Speaker 2: you to keep your promises. I'm going to test you.
Speaker 2: I'm going to accept your challenge to see if you
Speaker 2: won't bless me in return, and then I'll be a
Speaker 2: blessing that I can't even handle. Lord, I look forward
Speaker 2: to this in faith and in confidence and an expectation.
Speaker 2: If you've never invited Jesus into your heart, Jesus is
Speaker 2: the answer to all of our promises. Say Jesus Christ,
Speaker 2: come into my heart and life and fill me with
Speaker 2: your love. I want to follow you the rest of
Speaker 2: my life. We humbly pray this prayer together 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 pastor Rick 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: Thank you so much for listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope.
Speaker 1: We've got some incredible news to share with you. Very
Speaker 1: generous friends have given a one hundred thousand dollars matching
Speaker 1: grant to this ministry. That means all this month, every
Speaker 1: dollar you give to help Daily Hope share the transforming
Speaker 1: love of Jesus with people around the world will be
Speaker 1: matched up to one hundred thousand dollars. Here's Rick to
Speaker 1: tell you more.
Speaker 2: Did you know that today there's still almost three thousand
Speaker 2: groups of people around the world that have no Bible,
Speaker 2: no believer in Christ, and no body of Christ, no church.
Speaker 2: Over three thousand of those small tribes. One of the
Speaker 2: reasons I started Daily Hope was to help bring this
Speaker 2: awareness to the world and raise the funds to get
Speaker 2: a Bible, a believer, and a body of Christ in
Speaker 2: these last three thousand tribes. I call it the final Frontier.
Speaker 2: These people not only need to hear about the love
Speaker 2: of Jesus, they need to grow up. They need to
Speaker 2: be discipled in their faith. Now, I admit this is
Speaker 2: a big vision, but it's an important vision. It's a
Speaker 2: global vision, it's a timely vision. But every vision requires provision.
Speaker 2: And honestly, we wouldn't be able to even go after
Speaker 2: these tribes without your help. And that's why I can't
Speaker 2: fully express how much I appreciate your support for Daily Hope.
Speaker 2: When you give to this ministry, you're not only supporting
Speaker 2: this broadcast, but you're supporting our efforts to go to
Speaker 2: the final frontier, the final three thousand tribes that have
Speaker 2: no Bible, no believer, and no body of Christ. Now,
Speaker 2: the reason I'm telling you this is I'm excited to
Speaker 2: share we have a generous couple who's offered a one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars matching grant gift to Daily Hope. What
Speaker 2: does that mean? It means any gift you give between
Speaker 2: now and the end of December will be doubled to
Speaker 2: match that amount. So I'm going to ask you please
Speaker 2: prayerfully consider how you could give today help us reach
Speaker 2: the final front tier of these tribes that have never
Speaker 2: heard the name of Christ in the coming year. Friends,
Speaker 2: even if you can't help us financially, I want to
Speaker 2: ask you to pray. Pray for us and pray these
Speaker 2: specific prayerquests that I will faithfully teach God's word in
Speaker 2: a way that blesses you and penetrates the hearts of
Speaker 2: people who don't know Christ. Pray for the Daily Hope
Speaker 2: team that God will encourage them as they create all
Speaker 2: of our discipleship tools and materials which we want you
Speaker 2: to have to help you. And most of all, pray
Speaker 2: for these unreached tribes and groups of people who've never
Speaker 2: heard the name of Jesus. I'm praying for you during
Speaker 2: this Christmas season. Thank you so much for your generosity,
Speaker 2: Thank you for your prayers, Thank you for your support.
Speaker 2: You make it possible.
Speaker 1: Now in order to help get God's word out to
Speaker 1: the world. Very generous friends pleased to matching grant to
Speaker 1: Daily Hope. That means any gift you give will be
Speaker 1: doubled up to one hundred thousand dollars. This matching grant
Speaker 1: is only available until midnight on December thirty first, so
Speaker 1: please contact us today. You can give right now by
Speaker 1: going to Pastorrick dot com or by calling eight hundred
Speaker 1: six hundred five thousand and four. We'll say thanks by
Speaker 1: sending you the brand new Experiencing God's Peace scripture card
Speaker 1: set that's Pastorick dot com or call eight hundred six
Speaker 1: hundred five thousand and four, and thanks so much for
Speaker 1: your support, and don't forget to mention that you heard
Speaker 1: Daily Hope on the radio. Be sure to join us
Speaker 1: next time as we look into God's Word for our
Speaker 1: daily hope. This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily
Speaker 1: Hope and your generous financial support